104 THE ANGLER-NATURALIST. 



creature, which is apparently a link between the reptile and 

 the fish, presents in every respect the appearance of a blind 

 white eel, with four very thin eft-like legs near the extre- 

 mities. When swimming, these legs fold back against the 

 sides, and appear to answer no purpose except to balance 

 the animal when at rest on the ground. The specimen 

 which I examined was about a foot long, and was presented 

 to Mr. Buckland by a gentleman who brought it from the 

 cave of Adelsberg, near Trieste. Its lungs or gills were 

 double, one pair being on the inside and one on the out- 

 side of the neck ; but I could not discover that it ever came 

 to the surface of the water to breathe : it appeared to sleep 

 constantly ; and its motion in swimming, when disturbed, 

 was exactly like that of an eel. It was always necessary 

 to keep it covered up, as upon lengthened exposure to the 

 light its life and its colour ebbed away together. 



Through the kindness of Sir Emerson Tennent, I had 

 recently the opportunity of examining some newly-dis- 

 covered Mud-fish found under the surface of the paddy- 

 fields of Ceylon. The medium in which they exist is of 

 about the consistency of pea-soup ; and their eyes are so 

 small as to be almost imperceptible. In this case, how- 

 ever, the fish retain the natural colour. We may pre- 

 sume that all these blind creatures obtain their food by 

 scent. 



According to Blumenbach, the Carps have the largest 

 brain, in proportion to their size, of any fresh-water fish. 

 They are certainly the most difficult to take by bait, and, 



