Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-19
SOME sHoRE-GoING FISHES.
Killies Quit the Water to Gaze at 8
Flushing Mariner.

| ana knees in the rushes not MANY miles
from Flushing, L. l., creeping slowly
along, followed by the writer and his
companion, an enthusiastic naturalist
Inc party was not on bOtaniZing eXpe-
| dltlOn. w atermelOnS have not vet ripen-
ed IN Flushing. The old man had stated
that in neighbOring pool a strange sight
/ was to be seen, and nothing less than
fishes that left their native element and
! gamboled about as 'lOngshoremen. This
was the attraction that caused local pa
/ per to make the statement that three luna
| tics had been seen in the neighbOrhOOd
| crawling through the rushes, while 9TH
| ers, who had happened to see part of the
| crawl from distance, asked if any con-
yicts had escaped lately.
Its a-gettin' kind o. saft, amt it?
| asked Sol, the mariner, lifting one hand
that had sunk into mother mud; ''but
we're most there" he added, and in few
moments the crawlers came up ON a
small enclosure in the high salt grass.
''See EN-" whispered Sol, in a hoarse
cultural, ''right afOre yer eyes.''
The two martyrs to science gazed
eagerly, and soon made out several glis-
tening objects at the edge of the water,
ana IN a moment more were repaid for the
fortunes Of the expeditions Close to the
water several clumps of grass were grow
ing, and upon some Of them rested the lit
tie fishes that the naturalist stated were
killies, emitting the scientific name out of
/ respect for the guide, who was a man of
large family. Each killie was partly in
the water with it's head high and dry upon
a'blade of grass.
''Wot dye think o. that?' queried the
fisherman. CANT that takin' comfort OF
Sunday? What are they dom? Well,
| as ter that, its hard ter tell. KEN out ter
see the plants grow, some says. The first
one to call my notice to 'em was an ami
NAL painter over yer at Flushin'. He
pulls round here in a she'll in the season,
and is great on animals. One day he
comes in, sets down, and looks at me for
about i've minutes without speakin'.
We'll, says |, you know a handsome man
when you see One.' i was jist a Won
| derin', Sol,' says he, 'wOt the attraction
was 'Wot dye meanT says l. Why
says he, you was a settin' out there
smokin' when l pulled up, and all the
! fishes was drawn up in a line a lookin' at
| yer. They took yer for a circus or a sea
boss or sea nymph.'
''O' course | wouldn't believe it, and so
he took ME out, and there they was, all
the killies a-settin', lOokin' toward the
cabin. Lord bless We! 1 amt heard the
last o. that yet, and l fust seen 'em two
year ago. The three crawlers laid low
and watched the fish for some time, salts
! lying themselves that the incident was
not accidental, and when they arose the
fish tumbled from their perches and darted
away in the shallow water.
81 kin spin yarn that'll take the wind
out O. that" said ancient Sol, after he had
conducted the party to his quarters near
by, land wots more, it's true as Gospel.
In 81, afOre | took a pardner, l was third
mate OF a big trader, and had spent most
o. years a-runnin' betWiXt Liverpool
and the East. One trip my time was out,
and L found myself in the Malay country,
and, havin' nothin' ter do, thought I'd
see somethin' of the regular downright
heathen. When l was a kid, and they're
a-dOin of it now, we ulster save up pen
MES ter buy candy and toggery, and then
one O. these 'ere missionaries would come
around and git all the savins of every
| boy in town to buy Observation-Disclosures
| ones with picturs o. Moses capsized
| in the bullrushes and sech-fOr ter
send to the heather. 1 allus kind o.
wondered wOt the heather did with so
many; so when l got the chance, says l
ter myself, Il might as we'll take it in, ,
and | ships in tradin' schooner for Fiji.
| having fifth owners share in the pur-
| ceeds. We took out cheap cotton calicOes,
! hammers, old iron, cheap knives, loOkin'
| glasses and cheap jeWelry of all kinds.
| Well, when we struck the island we
traded 'em off an on, and took in all sorts
| o. stuff; shark fins, trepang, shells, coral,
| fruit, and | a-keepn' my eyes peeled for
| them handkerchiefs; but I'll take my
! 'daVy never see one. You see it struck
me as kind of opposition. In one town
| there was Catholic minister, a Method
| lst, Presbyterian, and hard-shell Bap-
| tlss, all, 1t seem to me, a haulin' and
wrastlin' for the balance o. power, so l
KEN to the conclusion, though | amt a
swearin' it, that them ere handkerchiefs
was kind o. thrown in by the Methodists
as chrOmOs."
"But how about the story?" we asked.
''Lord bless me!' calculated the story
| teller, ''l'm gettin' old, sure. Well. it
was about fish rOppin' and runnin' about
on dry land. l was a-settin' on the rail
smokin' one mOrnin' when the fust mate
says, SOL, let's 60 a-fshin'.' 'Pn go
| along says l, but l amt no hand at
! tishin'.' So we trmbles inter the dingy,
and Bill ups and pulls for shore. Coin
| ter fish ashore? says l fercetiouslike.
| That's jist wot am says he. l didn't
say nOthin' more, and when we got ashore
we crossed neck o. land, and soon come
| out on muddy beach, and the fust thing
see was some kind o. critters a-hOppin'
away inter the water.
"'FrOgs must a had a powerful swim
| ter git here says l. Them amt frogs. ;
says Bill, they're fish, and sure as Pm
talkin' they was, and a-hOppin' along
| the beach jist like frogs; some on the
| edge o. the water and others twenty feet
ashore and high and dry. Bill had light
rod along, and we walked along till we
come to an old wrack, and kind o. hid be-
| hind it. Twenty foot away was, l reck-
| on, a dozen of the fish, and, baitin' his
| hook with a worm, Bill landed her right
| alongside, and you oughter hev seen them
| fish. Why, they leapt at it like back pay,
and with jerk he landed one, if YOU kin
| call it landing. l took it off, and Bill
| hove agin. Wot did it look like? Well,
| it was sort of cross betwixt a sculpin
and trad-fsh, neither one nor tother,
| but havin' leanin' both ways"
''Did the eyes stick out prominent?'
asked the naturalist.
eyes, they did" was the reply. ''They
looked as il they were hung on the out
side, and moved all sort o'ways. The fish
! was about five inches long and dark
! brownish."
"Then it was the Perioghthalmus. or
the BoleOpEthalmus? ?" said the naturalist.
''YOu don't sayl' said Sol, with a grin.
''Then you've heard on 'em, and believe
| the yarn? Shake hands, will We. I'd
almost got so L didn't believe it myself,
bein' called liar nigh onto thirty years
ON end.''
AhS non ID AOuHN III d hummer vi
| places" continued the naturalist, settling
back and lighting a cigar, being on his
tack now. The fish is only one of dozen
or twenty that are more or less amphibi-
| Gus. When the Ceradotus is under water
it breathes by the gills, but it has a habit
of leaving the water and providing around
on the marshes of the Mary river. AS
soon as it leaves the water the gas in the
air bladder is expelled with a noise
| fbaf hoard q holt VofIo Tho E,I,
! takes in air at the mouth or nostril that
passes into the air bladder, to which
the heart is now pumping blood to be
purified, instead of sending it to the gills
''The Ceradotus, which may be called a
dry land fish, is over six feet long, and
looks like a great eel with two pairs OF
fins that compare with feet, and the most
curious part Of it is that previous to 1870
the fish was unknown except as a fossil.
These fossil remains were described years
ago by Prof. Owen as the CeradOtus
Strange stories came from the Mary river
1 of loud noises that were heard in the
swamps at night, and the crushing and
rushing as of some huge animal. At last
| these rumOrs attracted the attention of a
naturalist, who went to the locality, and
| the discovery of the fish was the result.
They 1--we on leaves and vegetable mat
ter that they obtain partly out of water,
and they are the last of a powerful race
| that is probably doomed to extinction.
'The killies are not the only fishes that
| leave the water. Last year / spent some
weeks near a small fishing village where
there was large eel pond, and to say
| that it was alive with these animals is
putting it extremely mild. Some authori-
ties say that the eel goes down to the sea
only once year, but these fellows went
out to sea every night, completely filling