41 2 



The National Geographic Magazine 



time 4 shillings a day by selling them at 

 a half penny a bushel." 



This account has been quoted as un- 

 paralleled, but several notices in Ameri- 

 can publications come nearly, if not fully, 

 up to it. In the Canadian Annual Report 

 on Fisheries for 1863 (p. 61) it is re- 

 ported that the three-spined stickleback 

 or picassou was "caught in great quanti- 

 ties in the small rivers, brooks, and bara- 

 chois of Magdalen Islands, where it is 

 used as food for cattle and as manure," 

 and that "400 barrels were caught" in 

 1862 "in the barachois of Basque Har- 

 bor" alone. Four hundred barrels were 

 also caught in 1866 and sold as manure at 

 25 cents per barrel, but in 1867 the catch 

 was smaller (150 barrels) and prices ad- 

 vanced to "is. 3d. per barrel." 



A FISH THAT BUILDS A COCOON FOR ITSELF 



Dr Gill also describes a peculiar fish 

 found in tropical Africa north of the 

 Congo Basin and known as the Pro- 

 toptcrus annectens. This fish lives mostly 

 in shallow, muddy waters or swamps 

 which dry up during the rainless season. 

 When the water disappears the fish bur- 

 rows down into the mud and builds 

 around itself a sort of cocoon by means 

 of a mucous which it discharges. In this 

 cocoon it will live for months at a time 

 in a semi-lethargic condition. It receives 

 air to breathe through a tube which leads 

 from the cocoon to the surface. When 

 the dry season ends and the rain returns, 

 the fish emerges from its hiding place. 

 The naturalists have known for a good 

 many years about this fish, but it was not 

 until 1901 that Mr J. S. Blodgett suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining a number of the nests, 



Diagram of the cocoon which a certain fish 

 builds to retain moisture for itself in the dry 

 season (see below), c, cocoon; e, earth; /, 

 funnel leading to mouth of fish; /, lid; m. 

 mouth ; mb, mouth of burrow ; /, tail. After 

 Parker. 



which he brought to England. The fish 

 are quite large ; all the males found by 

 Mr Blodgett exceeded 18 inches in 

 length. These fish are highly esteemed 

 by the African negroes, who hunt for the 

 cocoons in the dried-up swamps and 

 carry them off for future use. The flesh 

 is described as verv soft and white. 





Protopterus annectens. After Lankester 

 Illustration of the lish which builds a cocoon to protect itself. The fish averages about r6 inches 



