: 190 General Notes. [E Feb. 
which is so varied that in an hour one can pass from grassy 
plains interspersed with rice-fields to the inaccessible precipices 
of granitic mountains; from a sea of bamboo jungles to the 
shady retreats of the virgin forest; and from the rich tropical 
vegetation of the coast to the pine-woods of the heights. In- 
numerable water-courses, interminable creeks, broad marshes, 
valleys alternately inundated and dried up; chains of mountains 
of various elevations diversify the surface of'this province, giving 
it an unequalled array of flowers and fruits, birds, reptiles, in- 
sect, and molluscs. 
The list of reptiles given by Mr. W. Theobald includes four 
crocodiles and more than seventy serpents, fifteen of which are 
among the most deadly, and shows that in this province Malayan 
and Indian species meet. 
Among the fishes are many of those singular forms which 
seem as much at home on land as in water, such as the tree- 
climbing Azabas scandens, the Ophiocephalide and Trichogaster, 
which have a reservoir of air above their gills; Clarias, with an 
accessory respiratory apparatus; and Saccobranchus, with its 
long air-vessel extended across the dorsal muscles and commu- 
nicating with the gills. The singular modifications of the organs 
of respiration in these fishes are an adaptation to the zstivation 
that follows the rains. Some, as Oph. punctatus, Rhynchobdella 
aculeata, and Amphipnous ached live i in summer buried two feet 
below the surface. After a storm fishes appear as if by magic; 
the Ophiocephalidz glide, eel-like, from pond to pond through 
the wet herbage, and the cu chia lies on the ground -hidden 
among the tall weeds, iah to spring into the water when dis- 
turbed. Many species, both marine and fresh-water, migrate 
regularly in accordance with the monsoons. Many mount to 
the mountain torrents to lay their eggs, and descend with the 
falling waters, while their young often remain above till the en- 
suing year. e siluroids of these rapid torrents are provided 
aquatic plants beside the rivers. The nest is formed of the stems 
of herbs, which it bites off for the purpose; the male guards the 
es the eggs, from fifteen to twenty, in his mouth, 
manicus hatch 
and during the incubation takes no fi 
- -The _prosobranchiate Gasteropoda are more numerous and 
does the South American genus Nenia. The conchological 
oc : fauna of British Burmah shows that the ng was primi- 
5 tively E EE EE E for upon 
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