FISHES. 243 



stigmatized as unworthy of belief. "We have, however, in answer to such doubts, too 

 specific information to longer distrust the reliability of the previous reports. 



Mr. Rungasawmy Moodeliar, a native assistant of Capt. Jesse Mitchell of the 

 Madras government Central Museum, communicated to his superior the statement 

 that " This fish inhabits tanks or pools of water, and is called Panai feri, i. e., the 

 fish that climbs Palmyra trees. When there are Palmyra trees growing by the side 

 of a tank or pool, when heavy rain falls and the water runs profusely down their 

 trunks, this fish, by means of its opercula, which move unlike those of other fish, 

 crawls up the tree sideways [t. e., inclining to the sides considerably, from the verti- 

 cal] to a height of from five to seven feet, and then drops down. Should this fish be 

 thrown upon the ground, it runs or proceeds rapidly along in the same manner (side- 

 ways) so long as the mucus on it remains." 



These movements are effected by the opercula, which, it will be remembered, are 

 unusually mobile in this species ; they can, according to Capt. Mitchell (and I have 

 verified the statement), be raised or turned outwards to nearly a right angle with the 



Fig. 138. — Aiiabas scandens, climbing-tish. 



body, and when in that position the sub-operculum 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 on ground. "I have," says Ca^jtain Mitchell, " ascertained by experiment 

 that the mere closing of the operculum, when the spines are in contact with any sur- 

 face, even common glass, pulls an ordinary-sized fish forwards about half an inch," 

 but it is probable that additional force is supplied by the caudal and anal fins, both of 

 which, it is said, are put in use when climbing or advancing on the ground ; the mo- 

 tion, 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 downflow by means of the mechanism already described, and by which it is enabled 

 to i-each a considerable distance up the trunk. 



The OsPHKOMENn)^ are fishes with a mouth of small size, and destitute of teeth 

 on the palate. To this family belong 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. 



