OF FISH. 
291 
| Tobacco-Pipe-Fish. (PI. 50.) This species is known 
in the seas of both Indies and at Brazil. The head is 
very long, quadrangular, and adorned with rays. The 
aperture of the mouth is wide, and in an oblique direc- 
tion; the lower jaw is somewhat longer than the upper; 
the teeth are small; the tongue moveable; the nostrils 
double, and near the eyes, which ate large, with a black 
pupil and silvery iris. The body is devoid of visible 
scales, flat in the front part, and rounded towards the 
tail. The lateral line has a straight direction. The anus 
is much nearer the tail-fin than the head; the belly is 
long; the fins short, the rays mostly four-branched. This 
fish is brown, spotted with blue on the back; the sides 
ancl belly silvery; the fins are red. 
It grows three or four feet long, living on small fry 
and lobsters; it is very plentiful, but lean, therefore only 
eaten by the poor. 
Netted Eel. (PI. 51.) The head and mouth of this 
beautiful species is small, without barbies. The eyes 
are near the upper lip, of a blue and white colour. The 
teeth stand apart from each other, and those in front are 
the longest. The body is variegated with black and white 
spots like net work, and the dorsal fin extends the whole 
length of the back. 
This species is from two to three feet in length, and 
was found near the coast of Tranquebar; but little is 
known of its natural history. 
Common Eel. This forms evidently a connecting 
link, in the chain of nature, between the serpents and fish, 
possessing not only, in a great measure, the serpent form, 
but also many of their habits. 
This fish is frequently known to quit its element, and 
to wander, in the evening or night, over meadows in 
search of snails and other prey, or to other ponds for 
change of habitation. This will account for eels being 
found in waters that have not been in the least suspected 
to contain them. The usual haunts of eels are in mud, 
among weeds, under roots and stumps of trees, or in 
holes in the banks or the bottom of rivers. They are 
