39 



SPINY-FINNED GROUP. 



a variable number of flexible spines; t-he base of the pectorals are muscular; 

 the pelvic fins are united for a portion of their length ; and the caudal fin has 

 its lower border obliquely truncated. The species here figured (P. koelre'iiteri) 

 has a wide range, being found in the Red Sea, the seas and on the coasts of India, 

 where it ascends tidal rivers and estuaries, as well as in the Andamans, the Malay 

 Archipelago, and the islands of the Pacific. Concerning their habits, Day writes 

 that "these fishes, from the muscular development at the base of the pectoral 

 fins, are able to use them for progression on mud or for climbing. It is a most 

 curious sight to see P. schlosseri along the side of the Burmese rivers ; at a 

 distance the fishes appear like large tadpoles, stationary, contemplating all passing 

 objects, or else snapping at flies or other insects ; suddenly, startled by something, 



MUD-SKIPPERS DISPORTING (f nat. size). After Hilgendorf. 





away they go with a hop, skip, and a jump, either inland among the trees or on 

 to the water like a flat stone or a piece of slate sent skimming by a schoolboy. 

 They climb on to trees and large pieces of grass, leaves, and sticks, holding on by 

 their pectoral fins exactly as if these w r ere arms. Now and then they plant these 

 firmly as organs of support, the same as one places one's elbows on a table, then 

 they raise their heads and take a deliberate survey of surrounding objects." Of 

 certain allied species, which he places in a genus apart, the same writer remarks 

 that they are essentially mud-dwelling fish, and that if placed in a vessel of deep 

 water they appear to be rapidly drowned. In all, the remarkable prominence of the 

 eyes is more or less completely lost after death. On the slimy banks of the small 

 affluents of tlie Hughli near Calcutta, where the writer has often watched their 

 strange habits, these fishes may be seen in hundreds. 



