98 



KNOWLEDGE 



[May 1, 1896. 



off a share of the prey. The precise structure of the 

 eyes of the " walkinj^' " goby is not yet known, though the 

 present writer hopes shortly to be able to give some 

 account of specimens wliich are now being prepared, and 

 are nearly ready, for histological examination. They 

 seem, however, to ditfer from the eyes of the Cyprinodont 

 Anahli'iis, in which the upper portion is adapted for vision 

 out of water and the lower for vision under water, the 

 fish swimming with the one half above and the other 

 beneath the surface. 



The first specimens of PeriojihthalmxiK which have been 

 imported into i''urope were brought from West Africa a 

 few months back for the Liverpool Museum. They have 

 lived remarkably well in :i shallow salt-water tank, which 

 has been kept as evenly as possible at a temperature of 

 from seventy-five to eighty degrees Fahrenheit. Though on 

 their arrival they were extremely timid, they became after 

 a short time quite tame, and came to recognize the 

 attendant who fed them, eagerly watching for food on his 

 approach. 



Professor Haddon, who studied this species in Australia, 

 being struck with the length of time these tishes could 

 remain out of water, and with the fact that many of them 

 sat by the margin of the sea with extremity of the tail 

 immersed, thought that perhaps this part of its body 

 served as a subsidiary organ of respiration. He accordingly 



so obtained, the figures in Dr. Gunther's " Study of 

 Fishes," and in Mosoley's " Notes of a Naturalist on the 

 ChaUemjer" being drawn from spirit-preserved specimens. 



reriuphtlialinus koelreuleri. — Side \iow. 



made a series of experiments which he believes tends 

 to prove that the tail does assist in respiration. The 

 manner, however, in which the specimens in the aquarium 

 of the Liverpool Museum have been observed to sit on dry 

 land, under close scrutiny, for lengthy periods, distant from 

 the water, leads the writer to suspect that no aid can be 

 lent to respiration by the immersed portion of the tail. 

 The gill chambers are capacious, and it is probable that a 

 sufficient amount of water can be retained in them to 

 keep up respiration during their absence from the sea. 



The Periophthabiius koelreuteri is widely distributed, being 

 found throughout the Indian and Melanesian seas and on 

 the west coast of Africa. It is absent, however, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Gunther, from the Eastern Pacific and from the 

 American side of the Atlantic. It is exceedingly nimble, 

 and can be captured only with the greatest difficulty; 

 and he who would succeed must count on being smeared 

 from his hat to his boots with evil-odoured mud. 



The accompanying illustrations are reproduced from 

 photographs of the specimens in the Liverpool Museum, 

 taken directly from life while sitting out of the water. 

 They are, we believe, the only representations of this fish 



ENGLISH COINS.-I. 



By G. F. Hill, M.A. 



THIS paper must begin with an apology for its title. 

 In the first phice, it deals briefly with a coinage 

 which existed in our country before the advent of 

 the English race; and, secondly, some notice must 

 be taken of the coinages of Scotland and Ireland. 

 In these, however, there is little to justify a longer title 

 than has been adopted. 



The first coinage of I>ritain must be traced back to a 

 Greek original. In a previous paper" we saw that the 

 gold staters of Philip II. attained an extremely wide cur- 

 rency throughout the whole ancient world. It has been 

 proved by the chief authority on the subject. Sir .John 

 I'jvans, I that the most important type of the early gold 

 coins of Britain goes back to the stater of Philip. Greek 

 influence probably reached Britain through Gaul, and 

 the barbarous (iaulish imitations of Greek coins were 

 s'ill more barbarously and unintelligently imitated by 



the Britons. As we 

 might expect, the 

 coinage of Britain 

 seems to have begun 

 in Kent, and spread 

 thence along the 

 southern and eastern 

 coasts, and to a cer- 

 tain extent into the 

 Midlands. If we 

 allow about a cen- 

 tury and a half from 

 the time of Philip 

 (who died inHSGB.c), 

 we may arrive at a 

 probable date for the 

 beginning of coinage 

 in Britain. The 



plate (Figs. 1 and 

 2) shows two bar- 

 barous Gaulish copies 

 of Philip's coinage, and (Figs. 3 foil.) some specimens of 

 British money. Fig. 3 (from the south-eastern district) 

 is clearly derived from the Greek, but the charioteer has 

 been provided with wings. In barbarous hands the 

 tendency to reduce everything to mere ornament is 

 strong, and in Fig. 4 (from the south coast) the original 

 is hardly to be made out. The opposite tendency to 

 evolve a likeness out of a mere design also, however, 

 exists ; and it is not difficult to see how the boar 

 on Fig. 7 has been developed out of the degenerate 

 human face on Fig. 5, through the intermediate stage of 

 Fig. 6. 



The coins described above are all of gold or silver, but 

 baser metals were in use. The coins of the Channel 

 Islands are of very base character, copper being the chief 

 constituent, though silver and tin also form a part. The 

 piece here given (Fig. 8) is characteristic in style. These 

 coins probably belong to some time in the first century b.c. 

 Roman influence began to be felt in the time of Julius 



* KSOWLEDGE, JlllU' 1st, 1895, Jl. 123. 

 t " Anc-ieut British Coins," pp. 17, ff. 



