430 



ZOOLOGY. 



native name being "barramundi." XotMng is known of its 

 breeding habits or mode of development. The eggs when 

 ready to be laid are 3.5 millimetres in diameter. The lower 

 part of the oviduct is much as in Menopoma. Fossil teeth 

 of Oeratodus occur in the Jurassic beds of Wyoming, and two 

 species have been found in still older beds iu Illinois, regarded 

 by Cope as either Upper Carboniferous or Permian. Thus, 



Protoptertii annectens, a Lung fish of Africa. One third natural size. 



as remarked by Gdnther, we have in Ceratoduf: a genus 

 which has survived from the Triassic period. 



The lung-fish are distinguished by two well-formed lungs, 

 and the narrow ribbon-like fins. In Lepidosiren paradoxa 

 Titzinger, there are five gill-arches, with four slits, and the 

 body is rather longer, more eel-like, with a blunter snout 

 than in Protopterus. It grows to one metre in length, and 



Fi2r. 396. — Skelpf'^n nf Pro'nnf^nm amudfns^ showing the protocorcal tail and the 

 simple rnd-lilve limb:', thn pelvic and Phoulrier girdles, and the nature of the jaws. 

 €h. notocbord : p, bones reprpsentinff th'^ haemal arche* attached to the notochoi^al 

 slKMtli ; h<. heemal spines ; in^ ih. riiys of tlie caadal fin. — After Owen. 



inliLibits the rivers of Brazil. This is represented in Africa 

 by the closely allied Protopterus annevten'i Owen (Figs. 395 

 and .30fl skeleton), which ha? six gill-arches, with three 

 pairs of e.xternal gills in the young. It is 40-70 centimetres 

 in length. It lives on leaves in the "White Xile, Quilimani, 

 Niger, Gambia, and their tributaries. It buries itself in the 

 mud a foot deep. Gtinther states that numerous examples 



