582 Labyrinthici and Holconoti 
culum distends a little, and it appears that it is chiefly by the 
spines of this latter piece that the fish takes a purchase on 
the tree or ground. ‘I have,’ says Captain Mitchell, ‘ascer- 
tained by experiment that the mere closing of the operculum, 
when the spines are in contact with any surface, even common 
glass, pulls an ordinary-sized fish forwards about half an inch,’ 
but it is probable that additional force is supplied by the cau- 
dal and anal fins, both of which, it is said, are put in use when 
climbing or advancing on the ground; the motion, in fact, is 
described as a wriggling one. 
“The climbing-fish seems to manifest an inclination to 
ascend streams against the current, and we can now understand 
how, during rain, the water will flow down the trunk of a tree, 
and the climbing-fish, taking advantage of this, will ascend 
against the down-flow by means of the mechanism already 
described, and by which it is enabled to reach a considerable 
distance up the trunk.” (Gill) 
The Gouramis: Osphromenida.—‘‘ The Osphromenide are fishes 
with a mouth of small size, and destitute of teeth on the 
palate. To this family belongs the gourami, whose praises have 
been so often sung, and which has been the subject of many 
efforts for acclimatization in France and elsewhere by the French. 
“The gourami (Osphromenus goramy) has an oblong, oval 
form, and, when mature, the color is nearly uniform, but in the 
young there are black bands across the body, and also a blackish 
spot at the base of the pectoral fin. The gourami, if we can 
credit reports, occasionally reaches a gigantic size, for it is 
claimed that it sometimes attains a length of 6 feet, and weighs 
150 pounds, but if this is true, the size is at least exceptional, 
and one of 20 pounds is a very large fish; indeed, they are 
considered very large if they weigh as much as 12 or 14 pounds, 
in which case they measure about 2 feet in length. 
“The countries in which the gourami is most at home lie 
in the intertropical belt. The fish is assiduous in the care of 
its young, and prepares a nest for the reception of eggs. The 
bottom selected is muddy, the depth variable within a narrow 
area, that is, in one place about a yard, and near by several 
yards deep. 
“They prefer to use, for the nests, tufts of a peculiar grass 
