428 Remarks on Miscellaneous Subjects. 



guide their digging a well, which they do till they come to the water ; 

 a little cow-dung is then thrown into the water, when the fish rises to 

 the surface. Mr. Russell has known them to he from six to nineteen 

 feet deep in the earth. 



" Mr. Russell describes their other habits as not less curious. They 

 are invariably found in pairs, two in each hole ; never more nor less. 

 He has not met with any less than three to four pounds ; but as before 

 said, they grow to the length of two feet. He has seen them go 

 along the ground, with a serpentine motion, very fast, though the 

 natives say they never voluntarily rise above the surface. In some 

 places they are very common, and hive a long time when taken out of 

 the water, by being sprinkled over occasionally with that fluid. One 

 which Mr. Russell thinks to be the female, is always smaller, and not 

 so bright in colour as the other. 



" I regret this account is so imperfect, especially as I have seen the 



fish, for when I was at Titalya in March last, Mr. Russell very 



kindly sent me two of them. Unfortunately I was on the eve of 



starting with my family for the hills, and in the bustle of packing up, 



I had not time to examine them, intending on my arrival here to 



describe, and preserve the specimens for the Society. And still more 



unfortunately, I was unable to convey them up here, having been for 



want of carriage obliged to leave even many of the necessaries of life 



behind. Mr. Russell undertook to bring them with him ; but one 



of them died and was thrown away in the plains, and the other made 



its escape from the vessel in which it was confined at Punkahbarry. 



He has promised to procure other specimens, so I hope soon to have 



the pleasure of sending some to the Society's Museum." 



" J. T. Pearson." 

 " Dorjeeling, 10th July, 1839. 



Through Mr. Russell's kindness we have been enabled to identify 

 the Bora Chung, or Grovmd-Fish of Bootan, with Ophiocephalus Barca, and 

 it will be seen how fully Buchanan's account of its habits correspond 

 with that of Mr. Russell, as given by Dr. Pearson. We are not yet fully 

 prepared to form an opinion on this subject, but we have long been 

 desirous of arranging the result of our observations on the Ophiocephali 

 of India, and when an opportunity for doing so arrives we shall endea- 

 vour to elucidate this curious habit in one of the species. In the 

 meantime if any of our readers could favour us with details regarding 

 the habits of any of the other species of the group, we should feel greatly 

 obliged. With regard to Ophiocephalus gachua, another member of the 

 same family, Bxichanan observes that it is very common in the ponds 



