THE CLIMBING PERCH. 



2 93 



a white band, which encroaches on part of the tail fin, and there is also a narrow white 

 edge to that fin. There are in certain individuals a few darkish streaks drawn across 

 the body, some black longitudinal stripes on the dorsal and anal fins, and in the young 



5EA SURGEON. Aouitiii/rus chirurgus. 



the sides are marked with darkish waving lines. This fish sometimes attains a rather 

 large size, a specimen in the British Museum being. nineteen inches in length. The 

 genus is rather comprehensive, containing between forty and fifty known species. 



NEARLY allied to the surgeon-fish is a very curious species, called the UNICORN THORN- 

 TAIL {Naseus unicornis\ on account of the singular structure of the forehead, which is 

 modified in front into a long and horn-like protuberance, rather conical in shape, and 

 projecting forwards in a line with the body. This horn is not to be seen in the young 

 fish, and only attains its full dimensions when its owner has reached adult age. Some- 

 times the horn is longer than the snout, but in most specimens it is slightly shorter. 

 Each side of the tail is furnished with two lancet-bearing plates, which are not moi/able. 



This species is found from the Red Sea to Japan and Polynesia. Its color is 

 brownish gray, and the dorsal and anal fins are marked with longitudinal blue stripes. 

 The largest specimen in the British Museum measures twenty-two inches in length, 

 and its horn is three inches long. 



THE extraordinary fish, called, from its habits, the CLIMBING PERCH, is a native of 

 Asia and is remarkable for its apparent disregard of certain natural laws. 



This singular creature has long been celebrated for its powers of voluntarily leaving 

 the failing streams, ascending the banks, and proceeding over dry land towards some 

 spot where its unerring instinct warns it that water is yet to be found. There are 

 several fish which are known to have this power ; the common eel of England, for 

 example, which has frequently been observed crossing the fields in its passage from one 

 stream to another. I have even seen the eels creeping over rocks, and contriving, in 

 some mysterious manner, to crawl along the flat horizontal surface of an overhanging rock 

 as easily as a fly walks on the ceiling. But I believe that the eel only passes over moist 

 ground, whereas the Anabas seems quite indifferent to such considerations, and takes its 

 journey over hard, dry, and dusty roads, heated with the burning beams of the noonday 

 sun, without appearing to feel much inconvenience from the strange nature of the transit. 



Several species, of which the Anabas Scandens has been chosen as the best example, 



