lf)f) NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Possessing some properties of worms. 



body to a certain degree for its own conveniency, 

 or agreeably to its own inclination. I have seen 

 this specimen, which I have measured three feet 

 eight inches, shorten himself to three feet two 

 inches; but besides this power of lengthening or 

 shortening his body, he can swim forwards or 

 backwards, with apparently equal ease to him- 

 self, which is another property of the vermicular 

 tribe. When he swims forwards, the undulations 

 or wavy motions of the fin and carina begin from 

 the upper part, and move downwards; but when 

 he swims backwards and the tail goes foremost, 

 the undulations of the fin begin at the extremity 

 of the tail, or fin, and proceed in succession from 

 that backwards to the upper parfof the body : in, 

 either case he swims equally swift. Every now 

 and then the fish lays himself on one side, as it 

 were, to rest himself, and then the four divisions 

 of the body above-mentioned are very distinctly 

 seen; viz. the vermiform appearance of the two 

 upper divisions; the retiform appearance of the 

 carina ; and the last, or dark colored fin, whose 

 rays seem to be exceedingly soft or flexible, and 

 certainly at the command of the strong muscular 

 carina. When he is taken out of the water, and 

 laid on his belly, the carina and fin lie on one 

 side, in the same manner as the ventral fin of the 

 tetraodon does when he creeps on the ground." 



This fish delights in clear water, and for this 

 reason keeps near the stony shores of the sea and 

 the mouths of rivers, which it likewise ascends, 



