CYPEINIDiE OE CAEPS. 279 



the warmth of the hand, it is said, is suificieiit to cause 

 them to thawj and move, — effects still more expeditiously 

 produced by putting them into the frying-pan, when care 

 must be taken, it seems, to prevent their fulfilling the 

 proverb, by leaping into the fire. 



Loach, according to Bloch, have a singular propen- 

 sity to swallow atmospheric air, which, in passing through 

 the intestines, changes its character, and is converted, 

 says Ehrmann, into carbonic acid gas, but Schneider de- 

 nies this. 



The favourite pastime of the C. fossUis is to roll and 

 wallow in the mire of his pond. Thither he retreats for 

 warmth and cover when the air is chilly ; and so fondly 

 is he attached to this soft duvet, that on leaving it, as he 

 always does on the approach of bad weather,* it is only 

 to grub up and disperse the ooze, till the water has been 

 rendered congenially dirty to his taste. The restless ac- 

 tivity of the fish in accomplishing this object is said to 

 have given origin to the name of loach — that word being 

 derived from the French verb ' locher,' to fidget. The 

 next subgenus, Anableps, differs from cobites, in having 

 the cornea and iris divided into two portions by trans- 

 verse bands, so that the eyes have two pupils and appear 

 to be double, though in fact they have but one crystal- 

 hne lens, one vitrea, and one retina ; this is a structure 

 of which no second example occurs among vertebrated 

 animals.t 



than fish capable of being iced in toto; but the restoration of 

 frost-bitten toes and fingers in our own race, and Hunter's arti- 

 ficial congelation of rabbits' ears, show that the vital principle wiU 

 sometimes permit great liberties with impunity. 



* On this account it is sometimes confined in a glass globe, 

 where, by the prescient uneasiness of its movements twenty-four 

 hours before a storm, it constitutes an animated barometer, on 

 which some people place plenary reliance. 



t Cuvier. 



