FISHES OF (ENINGEN. 59 



waters of swamps, in which the P&cilia also dwell. It is said 

 that the latter, when food is scarce, throw themselves out of the 

 water and leap along the grass to reach another marshy locality. 

 As all the specimens of the (Eningian Poecilia (P. ceningensis, 

 Wklr.) have the head strongly bent back, in the manner of fishes 

 when about to spring, Dr. Winkler believes that we may ascribe 

 to them the same propensity to leaping. They may therefore 

 probably have made a final effort to leap out of the marsh as it 

 was drying up, when they were overtaken by death and enve- 

 loped in the mud. 



The muddy nature of the Lake of (Eningen is proved by its 

 large frogs and salamanders, as well as by the numerous aquatic 

 insects and the pondweeds. On the other hand,, the gudgeons 

 (Gobio) and minnows (Rhodeus), which spawn in clear river- 

 water, show that CEningen must have had a clear stream. 

 Their spawn may have been deposited either in the river which 

 flowed into the lake, or in that which carried off its waters to- 

 wards the sea. Eels and salmon are not uncommon in Switzer- 

 land ; but they do not occur in the lake of Constance, as these 

 fishes mount from the sea up the inland waters, and cannot 

 ascend beyond the falls of the Rhine. In (Eningian times there 

 cannot have been any such obstacle between the Lake of CEnin- 

 gen and the sea, as two species of eels have been found at 

 CEningen. 



The fishes of CEningen belong to six families. The richest in 

 species is that of the carps (Cyprinoidei) , which includes twenty- 

 one species. Five of these belong' to the genus Leuciscus, which 

 is composed of middle-sized fishes with a spindle-shaped body 

 clothed with large scales and terminating in a forked caudal 

 fin. Three of the species (Leuciscus ceningensis, Ag., L. helve- 

 ticus, Wink)., and L. latiusculus, Ag.) are the commonest fishes 

 at (Eningen, but they are confined to the upper quarry. This 

 genus was already widely diffused in Miocene times, and it is at 

 present to be met with in the rivers and lakes of all parts of the 

 world. 



The Loaches (Cobitis) are small cylindrical fishes, of which 

 (Eningen possessed four species ; the stone-loaches (Acanthopsis) 

 are very similar to them, being remarkably long and narrow 

 fishes with small fins (A. angustus, Ag.). Of the minnows only 



