3 ^ 
EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
iir 
sometimes attains a length of six feet: it is remarkable 
in many points, and especially from the fact that it has 
lungs as well as gills. In the dry season.fhe,mg-rshes 
in which this fish lives dry up, and to meet this change 
■the lepido^ircn makes its way into the mud to the 
depth of eighteen inches, and coils up at the bottom of 
the burrow, where it makes a sort of cocoon, or capsule. 
of hardened mucus secreted by the glands of its skin. 
Sequestered in this cocoon the hsh breathes entirely by 
its lungs for half the year ; in this condition the earth 
in which the fish is embedded may be dug up, and the 
ball of earth with the fish in it may be transported 
V anywhere. When placed in warm water tke4epi4esi^i 
wakes up from the long sleep and resumes the double 
method of breathing. In its ordinary surroundings the 
