304 FISH OUT OF WATER 



And while the gurnard lias no less than six of these 

 pro-legs, the American land fish has only a single pair 

 with which to accomplish his arduous journeys. If this 

 be considered as a point of inferiority in the armour- 

 plated American species, we must remember that while 

 beetles and grasshoppers have as many as six legs apiece, 

 man, the head and crown of things, is content to scramble 

 through life ungracefully with no more than two. 



There are a great many tropical American pond-fish 

 which share these adventurous gipsy habits of the pretty 

 little Callichthys. Though they belong to two distinct 

 groups, otherwise unconnected, the circumstances of the 

 country they inhabit have induced in both families this 

 queer fashion of waddling out courageously on dry land, 

 and going on voyages of exploration in search of fresh 

 ponds and shallows new, somewhere in the neighbourhood 

 of their late residence. One kind in particular, the 

 Brazilian Doras, takes land journeys of such surprising 

 length, that he often spends several nights on the way, 

 and the Indians who meet the wandering bands during 

 their migrations fill several baskets full of the prey thus 

 dropped upon them, as it were, from the kindly clouds. 



Both Doras and Callichthys, too, are well provided 

 with means of defence against the enemies they may 

 chance to meet during their terrestrial excursions ; for in 

 both kinds there are the same bony shields along the sides, 

 securing the little travellers, as far as possible, from attack 

 on the part of hungry piscivorous animals. Doras further 

 utilises its powers of living out of water by going ashore 

 to fetch dry leaves, with which it builds itself a regular 

 nest, like a bird's, at the beginning of the rainy season. 

 In this nest the affectionate parents carefully cover up 

 their eggs, the hope of the race, and watch over them with 

 the utmost attention. Many other fish build nests in the 



