THE CLIMBING PERCH. 323 



with their assistance to crawl along the bed of the 

 tank. In the Climbing Perch, not only the pectoral, 

 but the ventral fins are used for this purpose, the 

 sharp points of the rays being very strong, and 

 enabling the fish to hitch itself along the ground, 

 much as the snakes do by means of the projecting 

 edges of their ventral scales. 



Aided by these modified fins, the Climbing Perch 

 is able not only to crawl about on the bed of the river, 

 but to go ashore and walk on the dry land, travelling 

 for considerable distances, and making its way over 

 obstacles which no fish would be thought likely to sur- 

 mount, and which would be absolutely insurmountable 

 by many an inhabitant of the land. 



We shall presently revert to this part of the 

 subject. 



This modification of the fins is seen to be developed 

 in a most remarkable manner in the Walking Fish 

 (Antennarius hispidus), which is shown on Cut 15, just 

 below the figure of the Climbing Perch. This is one 

 of a large group of fishes in which the pectoral fins 

 are set at the end of a pair of arms or legs, caused by 

 an elongation of the carpal bones. The external aper- 

 ture of the gills is exceedingly small, being reduced to 

 a little slit which is so small as almost to escape obser- 

 vation. The well-known Frog Fish, or Fishing Frog 

 (Lophius piscatorius) , belongs to this group. 



One species, which was obtained by Mr. F. D. 

 Bennett at Oahu, remained alive for many hours after 

 it had been taken out of the water. " During this 

 time, its abdomen and throat remained distended to a 

 great size ; but previous to death, both air and water 



