Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-04-15
LAND FISH.
Queer Creatures Which Were
Thought to Be Extinct.

Not very long ago party OF survey
orders from the Home Government, to
survey certain tract of the Australian
continent, that had hitherto been con-
sidered almost inaccessible. One even
ing, the weary explorers found them
selves on the banks of; a small river
that was lost in low marsh, and here
camp was formed, and all the men,
bers of the party were soon asleep. In
the middle of the night, one of them,
a naturalist. suddenly, found himself
sitting up IN bel and a second later
came a repetition of the sound that had
awakened him-i loud report, as of cs-
Gaping steam, followed by curious
gurglc. Not wishing to disturb his
sleeping companions, the naturalist
seized his rifle: crept out of the tent,
and started in the direction of the curl
Gus sound, that now rose on the night
air with striking distinctness. For a
Thousand yards or SO he pushed on
through the bushes that lined the river
bank, following the sound. Soon the
bushes gave way to thick grass and
to swamp-land, and as the traveller APP
preached it, the curibus seatnd seemed
to come up almost.at his feet, followed
by a splash, as if some gigantic frog
had beloved and made a leap, at
frighted at its own voice.
Holding his rifle in readiness. the
naturalist soon made out in the moon
light a shining body, about SIX feet in
length, that seemed to give out pale.
phosphorcscent light, and it rested
partly submerged in the swamp. 1t
looked too bulky and large for snake,
and a frog of such proportions was not
to be thought of. Stepping forward to
solve the problem he broke a twig
under his feet. whereupon the great
object gave below, and tloundercd
off with clumsy leaps. The hunter
dashed after the retreating animal,
rushing through the thick grass and
sinking into the mud and water, until
finally seeing that the creature was
making for the river proper, the nat
uralist fired Il shot and wounded the
animal. 1t stopped and struggled vio-
lently, flashing the rushes and hurting
the mud over its pursuer. In few
moments its struggles ceased, and to
the hunter's amaZrment, he found that
he had shot Il great fish; fish that
came out of the water, roared like q
calf. and walked or scrambled along
on partly dry land.
Here was curiosity indeed! Selling
the prize by the gills, the naturalist
lost no time in dragging it back to
camp-an object of wonder and curl
os.ty to his companions. 1t proved to
be the now famous CcrdaOtuS, fish
that lived in the Jurassic time of oeol-
ogy. and up to 1876 was supposed to
have become extinct. In appearance
1t resembles a great worm, having a
small. pointed, snakc-like head and no
tail; the body ending in pointed fin
or frill. and covered with large, stout
scales. The fins are four in number
and in their arrangements call to mind
the feet OF other animals; and, as we
have seen, they are used in a similar
manner.
But how, our readers will ask, can a
fish live out of water? and in expiana-
ton of such an untishable operation,
we find that the Ceradotus can breathe
by its gillS under water, like other
fishes. but if the water becomes mud
dy or impure, it leaves it and
crawls along the swamps and flats,
feeding like Il land animal. Toaccom-
piish this there must be complete al
iteration in the circulation of the blood.
rs when breathing by its gills under
the water the blood is sent to them to
be freShened or aerated When the
fish leaves the water the gills lose their
function for the time. The air-bladder
acts as a lung. and becomes filled with
air. To this the blood now goes for
the refreshing process. When the
CeradotuS first rises, the air-bladder is
full of gas, and in forcing it out and
swallowing fresh air. it makes the bel
lowing sound that first attracted the
attention of the naturalist to it. The
fishes during their visit to that part of
the country. observing them leave what
seemed to be their native element at
night and wander away, evidently in
search of food.
The South American and African
mud-fshes are quite similar in their
habits. They live in streams when the
water dries up in the hot season, and
and were it not for some such prOvis-
ion. they would soon become extinct.
When the weather gives signs of fail
ing. they descend into the mud, and
encasing themselves in balls lined with
some secretion, patiently await the
coming of the waters again. For
months they exist in this fashion,
Theoretically sealed up, as it were.
and in some cases in Africa they have
been deprived of water for two seasons.
A party of travellers once encamped
over such a dried-up pond in Africa.
that gave little evidence of ever having
held water coon after terrific rain
storm came on, filling the place SO that
they were obliged to move to higher
location. One of the men returning,