S I L U R U S. 



689 



those which are of large size, and they do not appear 

 at the surface, or near the banks, except at the time 

 when they spawn, which occupies about two months 

 out of the twelve. In some of their habits they 

 appear to resemble the eels, but the resemblance does 

 not extend so far as the migratory habit of the latter; 

 for it does not appear that the Siluri ascend or 

 descend the rivers for any seasonal purpose, their 

 principal motion being from the bed of the river, 

 in order to deposit and fecundate their eggs, and 

 back again when that object is accomplished. Cuvier 

 divides them into nine subgenera, and some of them 

 admit of a second subdivision. They all have the 

 dorsal-fin forward on the body, and composed of but 

 few rays, but the anal extends over a very consider- 

 able length of the under side, and reaches nearly to 

 the tail. 



SILURUS properly so called. These have the dorsal- 

 fin very small, and without any sensible spine in the 

 first ray. Their teeth on the jaws are arranged like 

 those of a card, and they have a third band of teeth 

 upon the vomer. They are found in various parts of 

 the world, but chiefly, if not exclusively, in Europe 

 and Asia. The European one, and it is the only 

 European member of the family, is the 



The Sly Silurus (Silurus glanis). This, in as far as 

 appearance is concerned, is a very ugly fish, lazy and 

 lumbering in its form, and repulsive in its appearance. 

 It is dark in the colour, and is altogether of a slimy 

 character ; while the flat head, the curious semi- 

 circular mouth, the long barbules, and the small and 

 projecting eyes, give it an aspect very unlike that of 

 almost any other fish. 



The head is shovel-shaped, flat, and the colour is of 

 a deep green ; the mouth very wide and deep ; the jaws 

 are circular ; the lowest one the longer, but both are 

 furnished with a number of incurved teeth ; there is a 

 long barbule on each side of the upper lip ; the nostrils 

 are round, and placed between these long barbules ; the 

 eyes are behind them, small, the pupils black, and the 

 irides white ; the back is of a deep green, and round ; 

 above the lateral line the sides are of the same colour, 

 a fainter shade of green below it ; and the body is 

 covered with dark spots of no very definite shape ; 

 the body is long and thick ; the belly short and 

 expanded, and of a light yellow colour ; the body is 

 covered with slime ; the pectoral-fins are deep blue 

 at the base and at the extremities, the middle parts 

 yellow ; the first ray bony, strong, and serrated on 

 the inner surface ; the dorsal and ventral fins are yel- 

 lowish at the basal part, and bluish towards the ends, 

 and both are placed much nearer the head than the 

 tail ; the anal-fin is long, the tail rounded, and both 

 are of a grey yellow, with lilac coloured* or violet 

 edges ; the fin-rays, in number, are iive in the dorsal, 

 eighteen in each of the pectorals, twenty-four in the 

 anal, and seventeen in the caudal. 



It is a fih which is described as inhabiting many 

 countries, but it is doubtful whether those of the 

 tropical rivers, and also of the rivers of America, may 

 not be different from the one which is met with in 

 Europe. That they are different is rendered more 

 probable by the fact that the European one is found 

 in the rivers of the cold parts of the country rather 

 than in the more southerly and western ones ; and it 

 is natural to conclude that, if a fish were common 

 both to Europe and to Africa, it would be most 

 abundant in those rivers of Europe which are nearest 

 to Africa, and fall into the Mediterranean. Now, as 



NAT. HIST VOL. III. 



a European fish, we believe that the Silurus is almost, 

 if not altogether, unknown in the rivers of Spain, of 

 Italy, and of the south of France, or indeed in any 

 river of the last mentioned country ; whereas it is 

 abundant, and grows to a large size, in the rivers 

 which fall into the Black Sea and the Baltic, even as 

 far north as Sweden. Specimens have been men- 

 tioned in the north weighing seventy or eighty 

 pounds, and it is in these northern countries chiefly 

 that it is valued as an article of food. It is generally 

 admitted, however, that, though its flesh is not dis- 

 agreeable to the taste, it is in all cases difficult of 

 digestion. 



It is described as being a dull and sluggish animal, 

 forming holes for itself in the soft mud, in which 

 holes it spends a great part of its time lying in wait 

 for its prey, and in general escaping observation. 

 We have already mentioned the manner in which 

 the barbules are supposed to attract the smaller 

 river fishes so as to bring them within its reach. 

 They have very much the form of worms ; and, as 

 the fish keeps them in pretty constant motion, one 

 can easily understand how the fishes may be attracted 

 by them. When the rivers are swollen and foul, it is 

 said to be more active, to come out of its hiding 

 place, and range about in its slow way in search of 

 food. This is a habit with very many of the ground 

 fishes, and river fishes generally are most on the alert 

 when the water of the rivers is in a state of agitation. 

 It is most frequently seen in the spring, at which 

 time of the year the males and females come together 

 towards the banks during the heat of the day, and 

 for the purpose of spawning. The eggs are of a 

 greenish colour, not very numerous in proportion to 

 the size of the fish, and it is ascertained that they are 

 hatched in the course of about eighteen days. This 

 fish is called Saluth by the Swiss, Wcls and Scheid by 

 the Germans, and Mai by the Swedes. In the latter 

 country it is dried for winter food, and the fat is made 

 use of separately, being more like the soft fat of some 

 of the mammalia than the common oil of fishes. 

 There appear to be different species of this fish in 

 the northern parts of the eastern continent, or else 

 those which inhabit different rivers vary in their 

 appearance. Some are also found in the fossil state, 

 which is what we might be prepared to expect in 

 fishes that lurk in the mud at the bottom of rivers, 

 and which must be occasionally buried in the rubbish 

 brought down by the floods. The particulars of these 

 are, however, not worth stating, as the fishes have no 

 history of a popular nature, and the one of which we 

 have given some particulars has not much. 



From the little action of these fishes, it will readily 

 be understood that they are long lived ; for it is a 

 general law among vertebrated animals, that sluggish 

 action and longevity go hand in hand ; and the accu- 

 mulation of fat is also a concomitant of the other 

 two. It appears also that these fishes continue in- 

 creasing in size for a very long period of years, and 

 that, in fact, the time when they cease to grow and 

 begin to feel the effects of old age is quite indeter- 

 minate. They grow to a much larger size than any 

 other fish of the fresh waters of Europe ; for although, 

 as has been mentioned, seventy or eighty pounds in 

 weight is a sizeable fish, individuals far heavier than 

 that are occasionally to be met with. Some of these 

 are as much as twelve or even fifteen feet in length, 

 and weigh from three hundred pounds to four hun- 

 dred. Some of the largest that are recorded wer 

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