218 A BAD NEIGHBOR. 



the mud, his eyes being so conveniently made that the wet soil 

 does not hurt them. When he thinks he has gone deep enough 

 he curls himself round, and wraps his tail round his head by way 

 of a nightcap. Then he brings out of his body a quantity of a 

 smooth, slimy substance, which he carries somewhere about him, 

 and with this he plasters the inside of the mud-cell in which he is 

 lying, making it all smooth, and binding the particles of earth 

 together, so that there is no danger of their cracking apart from 

 the heat. Having done this thoroughly, Mr. Mud-fish goes to 

 sleep, and he sleeps, and sleeps, and sleeps; and never wakes np 

 until the rains have come again, and the welcome drops, sinking 

 down through the softening mud, loosen the walls of his cell and 

 let him out again. 



If you were to put one of these earthy cocoons into a tub of 

 water it would fall to pieces at once, and you would see the sleeper 

 with his tail wrapped I'ound his head, just as I have told you. 

 At first he would be very stupid and sleepy, but after a time he 

 would wake up; and if he should live and do well you would find 

 him as curious a creature in his waking as in his sleeping hours. 



Did you say your Uncle Simon had an aquarium ? That is very 

 fortunate, for now you can watch all the queer ways of the mud-fish. 

 Take a small piece of raw meat in your hand, and make a splash- 

 ing in the water vn.th your finger. He will rise slowly, snatch the 

 meat away, and go down to the bottom to eat it. Now watch him 

 as he eats it. He takes the very tip of it between his sharp teeth, 

 and gives it a tremendous bite, seeming to bite with his whole 

 head; then he sucks it in a little further, and gives it another bite; 

 this he does again and again, till he has bitten through the whole 

 length of the piece. Then, if you please, he shoots it out of his 

 mouth, catches it by the tip again, and bites it all over again, and 

 then again. Three times he goes through this singular pi-ocess, 

 and then, with a quick jerk, he swallows the meat. He will always 

 do this, every time you feed him, and will never swallow the food 

 until he has chewed it all three times. It is a very good thing to 

 chew one's food thoroughly, but I do not recommend this way of 

 doing it for anybody except a mud-fish. 



