CLASS OF FISHES. 



347 



passing through the intestines; the loach of still waters 

 presents this singular phenomenon. When removed from 

 water into the air, most fishes speedily become asphyxiated, not 

 from the absence of oxygen, but because the branchial laminae, 

 no longer floating in water, collapse, and exclude the access of 

 air ; they also dry up, and become unfit for the exercise of 

 their functions. The larger the external aperture of the gills, 

 the speedier does death ensue. 



The family with labyrinthiform pharyngeals* have recep- 

 tacles in which they can preserve water, as in reservoirs, to 

 moisten the branchiae : these receptacles are water-collecting 

 cells placed above the branchiae; hence the name of the 

 family. 



Fig. 318. Bespiratory Apparatus of the Anabas, 

 or Climbing Fish. 



These cells (Fig. 318), enclosed under the gill-cover, and 

 formed by the lamellae of the pharyngeal bones, retain a cer- 

 tain quantity of water, and thus allow the animal to live a 

 long time in the air. They leave the rivers and stagnant 

 waters in which they live, to traverse tracks of land, and some 

 even are enabled to climb trees, as the anabas. They are 

 natives of the Indies, China, and the Moluccas ; and one spe- 

 cies, the gourami, much esteemed, has been acclimated in 

 the ponds of the Isle of France and Cayenne. 



489. A remarkable production of fishes is that of elec- 

 tricity, and the power it gives them of killing their prey by 



* Examples: anabas scandens, climbing fish; osphromenut olfax, the 

 gourami. B. K. 



