BURROWING FISHES.
In Brazil are to be found fishes, eellike in form, which burrow inthe mud during seasons of drought. In wet weather this curious classof fish stores up in its system a reserve of fat, and then, when thedry season arrives and the rivers dry up, it constructs a deep tubularburrow, in which it doubles up, with head and tail together. The mouthof the burrow is closed with a most ingeniously constructed mud flap,through which are several small perforations, which permit the animalto breathe air directly, as it is also one of the few species giftedwith both lungs and gills. While enclosed in its nest, the fish isfrequently dug out by the natives, who highly prize its flesh. In theperiod of incubation it lives upon the reserve of fat accumulatedduring the rainy season. When the early rains soften the soil, the fishemerges from its burrow and resumes its aquatic existence.