Chap. X.] 



BURYING FISH. 



353 



In South America the "round-headed hassar" of 

 Guiana, Gallicthys littoralis, and the 66 yarrow," a species 

 of the family Esocidae, although they possess no specially 

 modified respiratory organs, are accustomed to bury 

 themselves in the mud on the subsidence of water in 

 the pools during the dry season. 1 The Loricaria of 

 Surinam, another Siluridan, exhibits a similar instinct, 

 and resorts to the same expedient. Sir E. Schomburgk, 

 in his account of the fishes of Gruiana, confirms this 

 account of the Gallicthys, and says M they can exist in 

 muddy lakes without any water whatever, and great 

 numbers of them are sometimes dug up from such 

 situations." 2 



In those portions of Ceylon where the country is flat, 

 and small tanks are extremely numerous, the natives 

 are accustomed in the hot season to dig in the mud for 



fondeur." To this passage there 

 is appended this note: — " Le pa- 

 triarche Mendes, cite par Legrand 

 (Belation Hist, d'Abyssinie, du P. 

 Lobo, p. 212-3) rapporte que le 

 fleuve Mareb, apres avoir arrose 

 une etendue de pays considerable, 

 se perd sous terre ; et que quand 

 les Portugais faisaient la guerre 

 dans ce pays, ils fouilloient dans le 

 sable, et y trouvoient de la bonne 

 eau et du bon poisson. Au rap- 

 port de l'auteur de V Ayin Akbery 

 (torn. ii. p. 146, ed. 1800), dans le 

 Soubah de Caschmir, pres du lieu 

 nomme Tilahmoulah, estune grande 

 piece de terre qui est inondee pen- 

 dant la saison des pluies. Lorsque 

 les eaux se sont evaporees, et que 

 la vase est presque seche, les habi- 

 tans prennent des batons d' environ 

 une aune de long, qu'ils enfoncent 

 dans la vase, et ils y trouvent 

 quantite de grands et petits pois- 

 sons." In the library of the 



British Museum there is an unique 

 MS. of Manoel de Almeida, 

 written in the sixteenth century, 

 from which Balthasar Tellec com- 

 piled his Historia General de 

 Ethiopia alta, printed at Coimbra 

 in 1660, and in it the above state- 

 ment of Mendes is corroborated by 

 Almeida, who says that he was 

 told by Joao G-abriel, a Creole 

 Portuguese, born in Abyssinia, who 

 had visited the Mareb, and who 

 said that the "fish were to be 

 found everywhere eight or ten 

 palms down, and that he had eaten 

 of them." 



1 See Paper " on some Species of 

 Fishes and Beptiles in Denier ar a," 

 by J. Handcock, Esq.. M.D., Zoo- 

 logical Journal, vol. iv. p. 243. 



2 A curious account of the bora- 

 chung or "ground fish" of Bhoo- 

 tan, will be found in Note (C.) ap- 

 pended to this chapter. 



A A 



