AFRICAN LUNG FISH 
8 
AFRICAN LUNG FISH 
By Sir F. J. Jackson 
Two photographs of the nests of the lung fish are forwarded, 
in the belief that they may prove of interest to the readers 
of the Journal. 
The Central African Lung Fish (Protopterus Efkiopicus) 
is known to the Baganda as ‘ Maruba,’ and is very plentiful 
in the Victoria Nyanza. It is often seen on a calm day when 
the water is quite smooth, with its nose and part of its head 
protruding above the surface for the purpose of breathing, 
and occasionally it opens its mouth as if it were in the act of 
yawning. 
In August of last year I came across the two nests in question s 
situated in a vast swamp at the head of a bog near Entebbe. 
This swamp runs for many miles inland, and it separates the 
island of Bussi from the mainland. Across it there is a channel 
of open water some twenty-five feet in width, cut by the natives 
and kept open by the daily canoe traffic with the island. The 
water in this channel is only two to three feet in depth, but 
the mud formed by rotting vegetation is so deep that the bottom 
cannot be reached with a pole ten feet long. In a small canoe 
it is possible to paddle and push with a forked pole to almost 
any part of this swamp. With caution and the aid of a pole, 
it is even possible to wade about in it, but the occupation is too 
distracting for nature study, and it is not to be recommended. 
Irishmen would, I believe, readily admit that walking a quaking 
bog is child’s play to it. 
The nests were evidently of recent construction. They were 
both situated in a patch of coarse grass, were circular in shape, 
with a diameter of about two and a half to three feet, and 
about eighteen inches in depth. The water within the circle 
was quite clear. The sides were vertical, and were, no doubt, 
retained in that position and prevented from subsiding by a 
matted network of the fine grass roots. On the roots there 
