i^o Instincts, Habits, and Adaptations 



prey of the fisher." (Yarrell.) In India we find a fresh- 

 water Siluroid (Chaca lophioides) which "eonceals itself among 

 the mud, from which, by its lurid appearance and a number 

 of loose filamentous substances on its skin, it is scarcely 

 distinguishable ; and with an immense open mouth it is ready 

 to seize any small prey that is passing along." (Ham. Bu- 

 chanan.) In March, 1868, I obtained a fine example of Ich- 

 ihyscopits lebeck (Fishes of India, p. 261), which I placed in 

 water having a bed of mud; into this it rapidly worked itself, 

 first depressing one side and then another, until only the top of 

 its head and mouth remained above the mud, whilst a constant 

 current was kept up through its gills. It made a noise, half 

 snapping and half croaking, when removed from its native ele- 

 ment. 



In the Royal Westminster Aquarium, says Dr. Day, is a 

 live example of the electric eel {Electro pliorns electricns) which 

 has in its electric organs the means of showing when it is 

 affected by anger or terror. Some consider this curious prop- 

 erty is for protection against alligators: it is certainly used 

 against fishes for the purpose of obtaining food ; but when we 

 remember how, when the Indians drive in horses and mules to 

 the waters infested by the eels, they immediately attack them, 

 we must admit that such cannot be for the purpose of preying 

 upon them, but is due to anger or terror at being disturbed. 

 (Day.) 



Carrying Eggs in the Mouth. — Many catfishes {SilnridcB) carry 

 their eggs in the mouth until hatched. The first and most 

 complete account of this habit of catfishes is that by Dr. Jef- 

 fries Wyman, which he communicated to the Boston Society 

 of Natural History at its meeting on September 15, 1857. In 

 1859, in a paper entitled "On Some Unusual Modes of Gesta- 

 tion," Dr. Wyman published a full account of his observa- 

 tions as follows, here quoted from a paper on Surinam fishes 

 by Evermann and Goldsborough: 



"Among the Siluroid fishes of Guiana there are several 

 species which, at certain seasons of the year, have their mouths 

 and branchial cavities filled either with eggs or young, and, as 

 is believed, for the purpose of incubation. My attention was 

 first called to this singular habit by the late Dr. Francis W. 



