352 



FISHES. 



[Chap. X. 



and by degrees their whole bodies, in the mud ; sinking 

 to a depth at which they find sufficient moisture to pre- 

 serve life in a state of lethargy long after the bed of the 

 tank has been consolidated by the intense heat of the 

 sun. It is possible, too, that the cracks which reticulate 

 the surface may admit air to some extent to sustain their 

 faint respiration. 



The same thing takes place in other tropical regions, 

 subject to vicissitudes of drought and moisture. The 

 Protopterus 1 , which inhabits the Gambia (and which 

 though demonstrated by Professor Owen to possess all 

 the essential organisation of fishes, is nevertheless pro- 

 vided with true lungs), is accustomed in the dry season, 

 when the river retires into its channel, to bury itself to 

 the depth of twelve or sixteen inches in the indurated 

 mud of the banks, and to remain in a state of torpor till 

 the rising of the stream after the rains enables it to re- 

 sume its active habits. At this period the natives of the 

 Grambia, like those of Ceylon, resort to the river, and 

 secure the fish in considerable numbers as they flounder 

 in the still shallow water. A parallel instance occurs 

 in Abyssinia in relation to the fish of the Mareb, one of 

 the sources of the Nile, the waters of which are partially 

 absorbed in traversing the plains of Taka. During the 

 summer its bed is dry, and in the slime at the depth of 

 more than six feet is found a species of fish without 

 scales, different from any known to inhabit the Nile. 2 



1 Lepidosiren annectans, Owen, ritier presomptif du royaume 

 See Linn. Trans. 1839. d'Alouah, m'a assure que Ton 



2 This statement will be found trouve, dans la yase qui couvre le 

 in Quatremere's Memoir es sur fond de cette riviere, un grand 

 VEgypte, torn. i. p. 17, on the poisson sans ecailles, qui ne res- 

 authority of Abdullah ben Ahmed semble en rien aux poissons du 

 ben Solaim Assouany, in his Nil, et que, pour 1' avoir, il faut 

 History of Nubia, " Simon, he- creuser a une toise et plus de pro- 



