Page:Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - Volume 1.pdf/73

1, 1865.]

Silurus finds them equally useful, and regards them as highly ornamental. The two longest barbules have their origin, one on each side just above the angle of the mouth, the four others tend downwards from beneath the lower jaw. This will certainly be the largest of our fresh-water fishes, for Cuvier states that it is sometimes upwards of six feet in length, and is said to weigh three hundred French pounds. In the course of four years, if food is plentiful, it will attain the weight of fifty-six pounds. In appearance it is anything but prepossessing—the large flattened head, broad capacious mouth, and frog-like eyes, may perhaps earn for it the name of frog-fish, which its known partiality for frogs may serve to strengthen.

Mr. Yarrell says, "The Silurus is represented as sluggish in its habits, and a slow swimmer, taking its prey by lying in wait for it, in a manner somewhat similar to the angler (Lophius); hiding itself in holes or soft mud, and apparently depending upon the accidental approach of fishes or other animals, of which its long and numerous barbules may be at the same time the source of attraction to the victims, and the means of warning to the devourer. From its formidable size, it can have but few enemies in the fresh water, and from them its dark colour, in addition to its habit of secreting itself either in holes or soft mud, would be a sufficient security. In spring the male and female may be seen together, about the middle of the day, near the banks or edges of the water, but soon return to their usual retreats. The ova when deposited are green; and the young are excluded between the sixteenth and nineteenth days. The flesh is white, far, and agreeable to many persons as food, particularly the part of the fish near the tail; but on account of its being luscious, soft, and difficult to digest, it is not recommended to those who have weak stomachs. In the northern countries of Europe the flesh is preserved by drying, and the fat is used as lard."

The Silurus finds its food in the frogs that pass into the rivers, and the small fish that abide there, if all accounts be true. The authors of the "Natural History of Fishes" state that it is so voracious that "it has been known in several instances to devour children; and in one instance the body of a woman was found in one of these fishes." To this account we can only add, that either the fish must have been "a mighty large one," or the woman uncommonly small. Old Izaak says, "The mighty luce, or pike, is taken to be the tyrant, as the salmon is the king, of fresh waters," but here is a tyrant before whom the pike would be obliged to succumb. Should the Silurus take kindly to his new home in the bosom of father Thames, and increase, multiply, and replenish the waters, we may well inquire, "What would old Izaak Walton say?" C.