and Glanis of the Ancients. 205 



Thej do not mention them as fishes either of Greece or Italy j 

 and I believe no species of this family is now found in the 

 rivers of those comitries. With regard to the male {Silurus 

 glanis) protecting its fry, I am not aware whether any modern 

 observer has recorded this ciixmnstance. It is well known that 

 some male members of the Sikirid^ make nests and watch over 

 their eggs andyomig ones, like the sticklebacks of this country. 

 Dr. Hancock has described two species of the genus Doras 

 (the round-headed and flat-headed hassars of Demerara) which 

 evince great care for theii- young ; and I believe Agassiz has 

 noticed the same thing in two other genera of the same family. 

 The males oi Arius Jissus and A. Commersonii caxxj the eggs 

 in their mouth, the latter species even hatching them there. 

 The peasants of Wallachia say that the males of Silurus glanis 

 protect their young. 



There is one more passage which requires a little considera- 

 tion. In this one it is certain that the name silurus does not 

 stand for any of the Siluridas, but must mean a stm-geon. 

 Even at the risk of distm-bing the manes of J. C. Scaliger and 

 Cardan I maintain that the silurus of the Moselle as sung of 

 by Ausonius can be nothing else than a sturgeon. 



Here are Ausonius's lines : — 



Nunc pecus aequoreum celebrabere magne Silure : 

 Quern velut Actseo perductum tergora olivo 

 Amnicolaru Delphina reor ; sic per freta magnum 

 Laberis, et lougi vix corporis agmina solvis 

 Ant brevibus defensa vadis, aut fluminis ulvis : 

 Aut cum trauquillos moliris in amne meatus, 

 Te virides ripae, te cserula turba natantum, 

 Te liquidse mirantur aquse : diffuuditur alveo 

 ^stus, et extremi procurriint margine fluctus. 

 Talis Atlantiaco quondam Balaena profundo, 

 Cum vento motuve suo telluris ad oras 

 Pellitur, exclusum fundit mare, magnaque surgunt 

 -(Equora, vicinique tiraent decresccre montes. 

 Hie tamen, hie nostra) mitis Bala;na AToselloe, 

 Exitio procul est, magnoque honor additus arani. 



(AusoN. Id. X. 135-149.) 



Hardly a single sentence in this description can apply to the 

 Silurus glanis : the arrow-like dartings of the unbending body 

 cannot possibly refer to the sluggish, slow-swimming, mud-lov- 

 ing sheatfish ; the voracious silurus can never be called " mitis 

 Bahena:" but tlie whole description is well suited either to the 

 common sturgeon or to the liuso. The name river- dolphin is 

 applicable not only in some degree to the general form of the 

 sturgeon, but especially to the shape of its head ; the " pecus 



