338 



FISHES. 



[Chap. X. 



general shape of the body, their affinity to the eel is at- 

 tested, by their confluent fins, by the absence of ventral 

 fins, by the structure of the mouth and its dentition, by 

 the apparatus of the gills, which opens with an inferior 

 slit, and above all by the formation of the skeleton 

 itself. 1 



Their skin is covered with minute scales, coated by a 

 slimy exudation, and the upper jaw is produced into a 

 soft tripartite tentacle, with which they are enabled to 

 feel for their prey in the mud. They are very tenacious 

 of life, and belong, without doubt, to those fishes which in 

 Ceylon descend during the drought into the muddy soil. 2 

 Their flesh very much resembles that of the eel, and is 

 highly esteemed. 3 They were first made known to 

 European naturalists by Eussell 4 , who brought to Europe 

 from the rivers round Aleppo specimens, some of which 

 are still preserved in the collection of the British Mu- 

 seum. Aleppo is the most western point of their geo- 

 graphical range, the group being mainly confined to 

 the East-Indian continent and its islands. 



MASTACEMBELUS ARMATUS. 



In Ceylon only one species appears to occur, the 



1 See Gunther's Acanthopt. 3 Cuv. and Val., Hist. Poiss. vol. 

 Fishes, vol. iii. (Family Mastacem- iii. p. 459. 



belidse). 4 Nat. Hist. Aleppo, 2nd edit. 



2 See post, p. 351. Lond. 1794, vol. ii. p. 208, pi. vi. 



