THE SILURUS GLANIS. 169 



Now, tliis lake forms the western extremity of 

 the geographical range of the European species of 

 siluroid, which is known in most parts of Germany 

 under the name of Wds* or Weller ; in Austria it is 

 named scliad, in Hungary harcsa, in Swede v n mal. 

 It belongs to a family which is entirely composed of 

 fresh-water fish, only a few entering brackish water, 

 and always keeping close to the shore. They are 

 found in great numbers all over Asia and Africa, 

 South and North America, and Australia, there being 

 not less than 675 species known.f They are distin- 

 guished from the cyprinoids, salmonoids, pikes, etc., 

 by the total absence of true scales, and by the great 

 development of barbels round the mouth. The 

 species peculiar to Europe belongs more to its 

 eastern and central than to its western portions ; it 

 is not found in Italy, Greece, the Pyrenean Peninsula, 

 southern Switzerland, France, and those parts of 

 Germany which are drained by the Rhine and its 



* This name is derived from the German walzen, English wal- 

 low. Wds is a fish wallowing in the mud ; as the name is less 

 foreign to the English language than the Greek silurus, I have not 

 hesitated to adopt it ; the German name of hucJien has been simi- 

 larly introduced into English, although no Saxon root is known 

 whence it may have been derived. The name "sheat-fish" cannot 

 be recommended, as it is more commonly applied to a marine fish ; 

 and that of "cat-fish" is better reserved for the American silur- 

 oids. 



t A complete account of them may be found in the fifth 

 volume of my Catalogue of Fislws. 



