Chap. 83.] 
LAND FISHES. 
471 
CHAP. 83. (57.) LAND FISHES. 
Besides these, there are still some wonderful kinds of fishes^^ 
which we find mentioned by Theophrastus : he says, that when 
the waters subside, which have been admitted for the purposes 
of irrigation in the vicinity of Babylon, there are certain fish 
which remain in such holes as may contain water ; from these 
they come forth for the purpose of feeding, moving along with 
their fins by the aid of a rapid movement of the tail. If pur- 
sued, he says, they retreat to their holes, and, when they have 
reached them, will turn round and make a stand. The head 
is like that of the sea-frog, while the other parts are similar 
to those of the gobio,^^and they have gills like other fish. 
He says also, that in the vicinity of Heraclea and Crom- 
na,^^ and about the river Lycus, as well as in many parts 
of the Euxine, there is one kind of fish^^ which frequents the 
waters near the banks of the rivers, and makes holes for 
itself, in which it lives, even when the water retires and the 
bed of the river is dry ; for which reason these fishes have to 
be dug out of the ground, and only show by the movement 
of the body that they are still alive. He says also, that in the 
vicinity of the same Heraclea, when the river Lycus ebbs, the 
eggs are left in the mud, and that the fish, on being produced 
from these, go forth to seek their food by means of a sort of 
fluttering motion, — their gills being but very small, in conse- 
quence of which they are not in need of water ; for this 
39 Cuvier remarks, that nothing is known of the fish of the Euphrates 
here mentioned hy Pliny from Theophrastus ; as, indeed, all particulars re- 
lative to the fresh- water fish of foreign countries are the portion of Ichthy- 
ology with which we are the least acquainted. Judging, however, from 
Avhat is stated as to their hahits and appearance, they may be various spe- 
cies of the genus Gobius of LinnaBus, and more especially the one called 
periophthalmus by Bloch. These species are in the habit of crawling 
along the grass on the banks of rivers. 
Generally considered the same as our gudgeon. It is called ''cobio" 
(from the Greek kw/3*6c), by Pliny, in B. xxxii. c. 53. It was a worthless 
fish, " Yilis piscis," as Juvenal says. 
*i What Heraclea, if that is the correct reading, is meant here, it is 
impossible to say. Cromna is mentioned in B. vi. c. 2. 
42 Cuvier thinks, that Pliny here alludes to a species of loche, the 
Cobitis fossilis of Linneeus, which keeps itself concealed in the mud, and 
can survive a long time in it, after the water above it is absorbed. Hence 
it is often found alive in the mud of drained marshes, or in the dried-up 
beds of rivers. 
