FOSSIL FISHES. 25 



the information which he gives will doubtless be new to most readers, 

 and throws some light on the manner in which the formidable dentition 

 of Dinichthys was used, I venture to repeat here a portion of his interest- 

 ing notes.. After describing the appearance of Lepidosi/ren, he says : " The 

 habits of this creature are very remarkable. Living in localities where 

 the sun attains a heat so terrific, during a long period of the year, that the 

 waters are dried, and even their muddy beds baked into a hard and stony 

 fiooriug, -these animals would be soon extirpated unless they had some 

 means of securing themselves against this periodical infliction, and of 

 obtaining, throughout the year, some proportion of that moisture for lack 

 of which they would soon die. 



" When the hot season has fairly commenced and the waters have begun 

 to lessen in volume, the Lepidosiren wriggles its way deeply into the mud, 

 its eyes being so constructed that the wet soil cannot injure them, and 

 the external nostrils being merely two shallow blind sacs. After it has 

 arrived at a suitable depth, it curls itself round, with its tail wrapped 

 partly over the head. A large amount of a slimy substance is then 

 secreted from the body, which has the effect of making the walls of its 

 cell very smooth, and probably aids in binding the muddy particles toge- 

 ther. When the rains fall, the moisture penetrates rapidly through the 

 fissures of the earth, cracked iij all directions by the constant heat, reaches 

 the cell of the Lepidosiren, dissolves its walls, and restores the inhabitant 

 to life and energy. 



" Several Lepidosirens, or Mud- fishes, as they are popularly called, were 

 sent to the Crystal Palace, while still in their muddy nests, or ' cocoons,' 

 according to the technical term, and in one instance, three specimens 

 were inclosed in a single lump of hard mud, weighing, when dry, about 

 twenty pounds. 



" On being immersed in water, the earthy cocoons fell to pieces, as if 

 they had been made of sugar, and the imprisoned creatures were thus 

 released. At first they were exceedingly sluggish, and hardly stirred, 

 but after the lapse of an hour or two they became tolerably alert. * * * 

 Finding that the Lepidosiren would rise to the surface of the water when 

 a splash was made, the attendants used to feed it by paddling about with 

 the finger, and then holding a piece of raw beef in the spot where the 

 disturbance had been made. The creature used to rise deliberately, 

 snatch the meat away, and, with a peculiarly graceful turn of the body, 

 descend to its former resting-place for the purpose of eating its food. 



" This mode of eating was very remarkable. Taking the extreme tip of 

 the meat between its sharp and strongly-formed teeth, it would bite very 

 severely, the whole of the head seeming to participate in the movement. 

 It then seemed to suck the meat a very little farther into its mouth, and 



