190 FOOD OF THE LEPIDOSIREN. 



)f raw 



It remained here for some time, and being deprived of its ordinary supply of raw 

 beef, took to foraging for itself. The gold-fish with which the basin is stocked became 

 its victims, and it was quite as destructive as an otter would have been. It had quite a 

 fancy for attacking the largest fish ; and though apparently slow in its movements, could 

 catch any fish on which it had set its wishes. As the fish was quietly swimming about, 

 suspecting no evil, the Lepidosiren would rise very quietly beneath it until quite close to 

 its victim, just as the terrible ground-shark rises to take its prey. It then made a quick 

 dart with open mouth, seized the luckless fish just by the pectoral fins, and with a sin- 

 gle effort bit entirely through skin, scales, flesh, and bone, taking out a piece exactly 

 the shape of its mouth, and then sinking to the bed of the basin with its plunder. The 

 poor fish was never chased, but was suffered to float about in a half-dead state, and 

 numbers of mutilated gold-fish were taken out of the basin. 



I have several times seen the creature while swimming about in search of a dinner, 

 and have been much struck with the exceeding grace of its movements, which indeed 

 very strongly resemble those of the otter. 



At last its depredations were checked, for when the basin was cleansed,^ according to 

 custom, a portion was fenced off, so that the Lepidosiren could not get out, and the 

 gold-fish could not get in. 



Not choosing to supply a succession of gold-fish, out of each of which the fastidious 

 creature would only take one bite, the superintendent bethought himself of frogs, and 

 fed the animal regularly with these batrachians. But having been warned, by the effects 

 on the gold-fish, not to trust his fingers within reach of the teeth that could inflict such 

 very effective bites, he got a long stick, cleft one end of it, put one hind-foot of the frog 

 into the cleft, and held it on the surface of the water, so that the struggles of the intended 

 victim should agitate the surface, and warn the Lepidosiren that its dinner was ready. 

 No sooner did the frog begin to splash, than the Lepidosiren rose rapidly beneath it, 

 seized it in its mouth, dragged it off the stick like a pike striking at a roach, and sunk 

 to the bottom with its prey. Not a vestige of the frog was ever seen afterwards ; and 

 Mr. Wilson naturally conjectures that the poor victim was gradually chewed up, like the 

 beef with which the creature was formerly fed. 



Under this regimen the Lepidosiren grew apace, and in three years had increased from 

 ten inches in length and a few ounces in weight, to thirty inches long, and weighing 

 six pounds and a quarter. The rapidity of its growth may be accounted for by the fact, 

 that it had fed throughout the entire year, instead of lying dormant for want of water 

 during half its existence, and its size was apparently larger than it would be likely to 

 attain in its native state. 



Thinking that perhaps the creature might need its accustomed season of repose 

 happily called aestivation, in opposition to the term hibernation it was well supplied 

 with clay similar to that from which its cocoon had been formed, but without any result, 

 the animal evincing no disposition to avail itself of the stores so thoughtfully collected 

 in its behalf. This is, I think, a very interesting example of the manner in which nature 

 accommodates herself to circumstances, and is paralleled by many other instances in the 

 several departments of Natural History. Bees, for example, on finding themselves within 

 easy distance of a sugar plantation, have been known to decline honey making ; and 

 the same result has occurred when they were transported to fertile localities where the 

 honey-bearing flowers are in blossom throughout the year. 



As an example of a similar phenomenon occurring in the vegetable kingdom, I may 

 instance some Australian flowers brought over by Mr. Howitt, and planted in his 

 garden in the suburbs of London. These plants were at first sadly puzzled by the 

 seasons, wanting to blossom just as our winter had set in, but in the course of a few 

 years they grew gradually later in blossoming, until they had found the proper season, 

 and then were content to put forth their leaves and flowers at the same time as the indi- 

 genous plants. 



The cause of this specimen's regretted death was rather curious. In the winter time, 

 when the basins were cleaned, the animal was removed from the north to the south basin 

 while the former was being emptied. Unfortunately, the fires which warmed the water 



