15G 



SlLUROIDS.- 



-riSHES.- 



-Glanidiaxs. 



tlie name of Glanidi (in the plural Glanidia), is of a 

 nearly allied genus. Aristotle says that the Glanis is 

 conspicuous among river fishes for the care that it takes 

 of its young; for the female having discharged its 

 eggs and departed, the male sets himself to watch the 

 precious deposit, and kee])s olf other fishes for forty or 

 fifty daj'S, by which time the young have grown suffi- 

 ciently to escape from their enemies. Agassiz, speaking 

 of another member of the family, says, Who can see the 

 Cat-fish {Pimelodus caliis) move about witli its young, 

 like a hen with her brood, or the Sun-fish [Pomotis 

 vulgaris) hovering over its eggs, and protecting them 

 for weeks, without remaining satisfied that the feeling 

 which prompts theso acts is of the same kind with that 

 which attaches the cow to its calf? The fishermen of 

 South America report that many of the large Siluroids 

 open iheir mouths for the reception of their young 

 Ijrood when danger presses, and return them to the 

 water in safety when no longer thieateued. This 

 report is sustained by the observations of several 

 travellers, who have observed multitudes of young 

 fishes dropping alive from the mouth of an old one of 

 the same species that has been speared. 



Fig. 43. 



Atipa (Culliclitliya tlioracatusj. 



According to Mr. Hancock, the Hassars [Durus and 

 CcdUchthys), locally named Yarrow, Atipa, Tamoata, 

 and Mana, travel in the dry season overlaml in search 

 of water, moving over the meadows in dense columns, 

 and when the ponds di'y up, burrowing into the mud. 

 In the rainy season they make regular nests of loaves, 

 and carefully cover up their eggs, which, during the 

 process of hatching, are assiduously watched and 

 courageously defended, by both males and females. 

 The Calltclithjs wants the air-bladder. 



Aristotle mentions a fish by the name of C/ioiros, or 

 Pig, as inhabiting the river Clitor in the Mediterranean, 

 and as being oue of the fishes that have the power of 

 emitting sounds. The Choiros is enumerated by Strabo 

 among the fishes of the Nile ; and it is said that the 

 spines on its head prevent the Crocodiles from attack- 

 ing it. It is admitted by authors to be a Glanidian, 

 but the species has not yet been determined. M. 

 Valenciennes ascribes the sounds which some fishes 

 produce to the escape of air from their large swim- 

 bladders, acted upon by strong muscles. This, if 

 considered to be the only cause of such sounds, would 



confine their production to the Physostomi, which have 

 the power of expeUing air ; but we have already men- 

 tioned the Gurnards, whose swim-bladders are closed, 

 as beuig remarkable for grunting. 



The following extract may be compared with what 

 has been said on the subject of sounds uttered by 

 fishes at page 125 : — 



On occasion of a visit to Batlicaloa, on the north 

 coast of Ceylon, in September, 1848, Sir Emerson 

 Tennent made inquiries relative to the musical sounds 

 alleged to issue from the bottom of the lake. The 

 fishennen vouched for the truth of the story, stating 

 that the sounds are heard only during the dry season, 

 and cease when the lake is swollen by th-e freshes 

 after rain. 



" In the evening," says Sir Emerson, " when the 

 moon had risen, I took a boat, and accompanied the 

 fishermen to the spot. We rowed about two hundred 

 yards north-east of the jetty, by the fort gate. There 

 was not a breath of wind, and not a rijjple, but that 

 caused by the dip of our oars ; and on coming to the 

 point already mentioned, I distinctly heard the sounds 

 in question. They came up from the water like the 

 gentle thrills of a musical chord, or the faint vibra- 

 tions of a wine-glass when its rim is rubbed by a 

 wet finger. It was not one sustained note, but a 

 multitude of tiny sounds, each clear and distinct 

 in itself; the sweetest treble mingling with the 

 lowest bass. On applying tlie ear to the wood- 

 work of the boat, the sound was greatly increased 

 in volume by its conduction. They varied con- 

 siderably at different points as wo moved across 

 the lake, as if the number of animals from which 

 ) they proceeded was greater in ]iarticular spots; 

 and occasionally we rowed out of hearing of them 

 altogether, until on returning to the original 

 locality, the sounds were at once renewed. 



This fact seems to indicate that the causes of 



the sound, whatever they may be, are stationary 



at their several points ; and this agrees with the 



statement of the natives, that they are produced 



by moUusca, and not by fish."* 



PrenadiUas {Arges cydojmm — Plate 4, fig. 23 — 

 and Brontes preiiadilla) are small fishes which issue 

 from the bowels of the earth in torrents of muddy and 

 smoking water flowing from crevices in the sides of 

 South American volcanoes, elevated sixteen or seven- 

 teen thousand feet above the sea. Near Iliarra, and 

 at other places, such vast quantities of these fish have 

 at various times been cast on the land as to cause very 

 fatal epidemic fevers. The eyes of these subterranean 

 Glanidians are very small, like those of other fishes 

 inhabiting caverns. 



The Clarias, Hales, or Ildcrohraitclius, and Sue- 

 cohrwicJius, have branching supplementary leaflets 

 springing from their gills, which spread in shrub-like 

 tufts over the superior jdiaryngeals. 



The Slcgophilns insidiosus of Reinhardt has the 

 operculum set with curved spines, which most probably 

 serve the same purpose with similar organs in a gi'oup 

 of Hypostomes, namely, to enable the fish to attach 



* Ed. Ilcv., Oct., 1859. 



