308 PROSE HALIEIJTICS. 



pounds ; his mouth is a perfect antrum ; and the throat 

 capable of giving easy passage to a child in transitu 

 to the stomach. He loves to lie lurking in the mud^ 

 either in some still hole of a river, or, according to Wil- 

 lughbyj in some small, deep, dirty lake, never issuing 

 from ambush except towards the spawning season, for 

 the purpose of finding a safe spot where to deposit a new 

 posterity. The sudden apparition of this unsightly crea- 

 ture on such occasions, rising from the mud. 



And eachi ferocious feature grim with ooze, 



together with its large dimensions and vast strength, 

 have long conspired to make it an object of supersti- 

 tious terror; and much fear has probably also at last 

 begotten some fictitious statements respecting a charac- 

 ter which perhaps may not turn out quite so sangui- 

 nary as outward appearances and first impressions sug- 

 gest. The glanis's strength, indeed, is herculean ; and 

 Aristotle's remark, that he is much ' easier to hook than 

 to hold,' quite true ; we find recorded of one huge Hun- 

 garian ' saluth,' that he drew his captors nearly three 

 miles down a stream, leaping and plunging for hours, 

 before he was suflBlciently weakened and subdued for the 

 fishermen to draw the body on shore. The rivers Elbe, 

 Rhine, Volga, Vistula, Oder, Danube, and the Hunga- 

 rian Tibiscus, all harboiir and fatten enormous specimens 

 of this remarkable and ill-favoured fish. 



As food, the glanis has been highly spoken of; the 

 flesh, agreeably white to the eye, is said to have the fur- 

 ther advantage of being a rich, unctuous, pleasant, sweet- 

 flavoured, and nutritious viand ; such as epicures love.* 

 The bons-vivans of Paris attempted accordingly at one 

 time to naturalize this fish : fine live-stock were procured 



* The fat also is very delicate, and is used as a substitute for 

 hog's lard. 



