Ill 



THE VICTORIA NYANZA 



37 



fish remains in the cocoon until the rainy season floods 

 the marshes. 



very voracious fisli : it eats frogs, 



Lepidosiren is 

 worms, insects, 

 crustaceans, and 

 exhibits cannibal in 

 stincts by 

 and eating its 

 lows. Indeed, Newton 

 Parker, who wrote an 

 admirable account of 

 the mud-fish, states 

 that it is difficult to 



a 



and 



also 



bitma' 

 fel- 



Lepidosiren is a voracious fisli ; it often 

 bites its companions and nips off the 

 ends of tlieir filamentous fins. When 

 the fins grow again they are sometimes 

 bifid. 



keep these fish alive in an aquarium for any length of 

 time owing to their habit of killing and eating one another 

 even when supplied with an abundance of food. The 

 bite from their scissor-like teeth causes terrible wounds. 

 Lepidosiren has two pairs of filamentous fins, and of 

 these the pectoral is longer than the pelvic pair, and 

 occasioually one of these fins is bifid. Some years ago 

 these animals were exhibited in a tank at the Zoological 

 Gardens, and I noticed that one of the fins was bifid. 

 The keeper told me that the deformity was due to its 

 companion biting off the free end of the fin, and as the 

 part grew again it became double. I am satisfied that 

 this is a good explanation. It certainly accords with 

 what we know of the lizard's tail, for when a lizard 

 loses its tail and regeneration occurs, the new portion is 

 often Ijifid and sometimes trifid at the tip. When the 

 ends of tails are bitten off, the parts are regenerated 

 but never attain their normal length. The fishermen 

 of the lake fear the bite of the mud-fish. 



When this fish burrows into the mud, the mouth of 

 the fiask-like cavity which surrounds it is closed by a 

 lid perforated by a small aperture. The margins of this 

 aperture are pushed inwards so as to form a funnel for 

 insertion between the lips of the fish. Boulanger, who 

 has written an interesting account of the mud-fish, 



