THE BARBER 125 



wriggle back into the water, though laid on the bank 

 yards away from it. 



The barber is really not very far removed from being 

 an amphibious animal, for he is able to live for hours 

 completely out of the water, and if placed in a bucket 

 or basket with plenty of wet grass, there appears to be 

 no limit to the period he can exist. When the forest pools 

 dry up in the winter, barbers often bury themselves 

 completely in the mud, and hibernate until the next 

 rainy season arrives. Thus quite large bags can be 

 made by digging in pools which contain nothing but 

 mud and ooze. Several species occur in south Africa. 

 The flesh is fairly good eating if well cooked ; but if 

 merely boiled, it is very dry and tasteless. 



Probably the largest family of all the south African 

 fishes comprises the various kinds of barbel (which must 

 not be confused with the barber or catfish mentioned 

 above), the carps, breams, and so called " suckers." 



The barbels are very similar in appearance to the 

 European type of the same name. Some sixty different 

 kinds have been described in the annals of the South 

 African Museum, and they are of all sizes from only a 

 few inches up to nearly a foot in length. Most of them 

 have little appendages hanging from the jaws which give 

 them their name (meaning the bearded ones). One kind, 

 when lifted, stings the hand like a bunch of nettles. 



The curious fishes, locally called suckers, also run into 

 a large number of species. Their mouths are very much 

 on the underside of the jaw, and they possess thick 

 rubbery lips forming a sort of adhesive pad which enables 

 the owner to hang on to the rocks and stones from which 

 no doubt he sucks the lichens and other vegetable food 

 which form his food. A species very common in the 

 Sabi River, Transvaal, attains quite six pounds weight (at 



