A HIDDEN HIGHWAY. ng 



construction are solely adapted to a subterranean 

 existence, as the earth-worm, or to a fixed one, 

 as the oyster, we commonly associate our famil- 

 iar forms of wild animals with unlimited freedom 

 of movement, and suppose that they have the 

 wide world before them to wander where they 

 list ; and, again, that of creatures as high in the 

 scale as fishes and upward the supposition is 

 that in proportion to their freedom of movement 

 are their chances of escape when pursued. Now 

 these, like many another common impression, 

 are true in a general way, but fairly bristle with 

 exceptions. For instance, there are many ex- 

 tremely sluggish fishes, yet what creatures are 

 more agile and swift than the minnows in our 

 brooks ? And there are fishes that can walk on 

 the mud with their bodies entirely out of the 

 water. Dr. Gunther tells us that "the Barra- 

 munda is said to be in the habit of going on land, 

 or at least on mud-flats ; and this assertion ap- 

 pears to be borne out by the fact that it is pro- 

 vided with a lung. ... It is also said to make a 

 grunting noise, which may be heard at night for 

 some distance." 



So far Australia; and now what of New 

 Jersey mud-flats and the fishes that frequent 

 them ? As I continued to explore the hidden 

 highway of snakes, turtles, and fishes, I found in 

 almost every spadeful of mud and matted weeds 

 9 



