218 ZOOLOGY. [PART II. 



Burying Fishes. But a still more remarkable power 

 possessed by some of the Ceylon fishes, is that already 

 alluded to, of secreting themselves in the earth in the dry 

 season, at the bottom of the exhausted ponds, and there 

 awaiting the renewal of the water at the change of the 

 monsoon. The instinct of the crocodile to resort to the 

 same expedient has been already referred to \ and in like 

 manner the fish, when distressed by the evaporation of 

 the tanks, seek relief by immersing first their heads, and 

 by degrees their whole bodies, in the mud ; sinking to a 

 depth at which they find sufficient moisture to preserve 

 life in a state of lethargy long after the bed of the tank 

 has been consolidated by the intense heat of the sun. 

 It is possible, too, that the cracks which reticulate the 

 surface may admit air to some extent to sustain their 

 faint respiration. 



The same thing takes place in other tropical regions, 

 subject to vicissitudes of draught and moisture. The 

 Protopterus 2 which inhabits the Gamb a (and which, 

 though demonstrated by Professor Owen to possess all 

 the essential organisation of fishes, is nevertheless pro- 

 vided with true lungs), is accustomed in the diy season, 

 when the river retires into its channel, to bury itself to 

 the depth of twelve or sixteen inches in the indurated 

 mud of the banks, and to remain in a state of torpor 

 till the rising of the stream after the rains enables it to 

 resume its active habits. At this period the natives 

 of the Gambia, like those of Ceylon, resort to the river, 

 and secure the fish in considerable numbers as they 

 flounder in the still shallow water. A parallel instance 

 occurs in Abyssinia in relation to the fish of the Mareb, 

 one of the sources of the Nile, the waters of which are 

 partially absorbed in traversing the plains of Taka. 

 During the summer its bed is dry, and in the shine 

 at the depth of more than six feet is found a species 



1 See ante, P. n. ch. iii. p. 189. 



2 Liyridosiren annectaiis, Owen. See Linn. Trans. 1839. 



