THE LUNG-FISH 175 



the Reptile House of the London Zoo, and behold a mag- 

 nificent living Ceratodus four feet long, with an ancestry run- 

 ning back half a million years without a break, it makes one's 

 brain whirl to reel in the idea. This creature's ancestors lived 

 in the days when many fishes were struggling to develop legs 

 and lungs, with which to go on land, and become salamanders 



THE AUSTRALIAN LUNG-FISH. 



first, then lizards. It is said that this fish sometimes leaves 

 the water and goes about on adjacent mud flats, like the jump- 

 ing fish of the Malay Peninsula; but the statement needs 

 confirmation. 



The Australian Lung-Fish is from 4 to 5 feet long, and it 

 is said that its maximum weight is about 20 pounds. It 

 breathes air over its palate like a reptile, and its swimming- 

 bladder is so developed that it does duty as low-class lungs. 

 Its gills are very small and imperfect, and of little use. The 

 top of its skull is quite unlike those of other fishes, and its 



