May Be Singing Fishes

Here is áu account of a phenomenon af the Pascagonla river in Miesissippi, ! to which, althongi) it is not generally known, the attention of natuntlists bas been called on account: of its mystery. At tiiiMs v-ry remarkable soumis are heard at the ïuonth of tliis rivcr. The local fishernien say tbat it is " tho spirits ginging ouder the water." It is a nrarumring sonud, which rises graduulij and then falte to a lower tone, ïhe tnusie ceasea wben tbe waters are diaturbed, aDd when they are quiet it begint agüin. Several explanations have been offered as to the origin and cause of the mysterious sounds of the Pascagonla. The most satisfactory theory is that the sounds are prodneed by a species oí fitli in somo unkuown way. Professor Q. Brown Goode, who is au authority on fishes and fisblife, thiuks that the drumfish raay cane the sounds in qtiestion. Instances of peculiar sonud.s being heard at sca and a?cribed to ílí-hes are not uncomiaon, as the followiug exauipies will show : In 1824, when Lieutenant White of tbe American navy was at tbe moutb of n river in Cambodia, he and bis crew were surprised by unusual sounds. He describeü the uoises as a mixture of tho bass of an organ, the ringiug of bells, the guttnral cries of a large frog and the tones of an immense harp. The nativeü said that tho sounds were produced by a school of a certain kind of-flsh. Dr. Buist, 1847, reported that a party of people in a boat on the waters near Bombay heard strange sounds, which tbe natives held to be caused by fish. The well known English trayeler, Sir J. Emerson Tenuent, heard similar sounds from the lake of Batticaloa in Ceylon, and here again the natives claimed that fishes made the sounds. Severa] correspondents of newspapers have reported having heard sounds which were produced by fishes. One writer in the London Field, 1867, avers that in the harbor at Greytown, Nicaragua, he was haunted at night by these mysterious sounds. Another in the same paper tells of musical sounds which be heard in the Tavoy river. Other instances of more recent date might be mentioned. Froni all the accounts given we may draw some interestiug conclusions. Thus it seems that the sounds are almost always beard on shipboard, thongli Charles Kingsley once heard them at Trinidad from the shore ; that they are usnally heard in tropical regions ; that they are more often heard at night tban at any other time ; that they are corurnonly heard at tbe mouth of i i vers, as at the mouth of the Pascagoula, and that they have been reported from far distant places in America, Europe and