240 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



The common hussar (Gallichthys littorali.s), the commonest of the Guiana fishes, is 

 noteworthy in many respects. The enormous size and the peculiar arrangement of 

 its scaly armor; the hardiness of its constitution, by means of which it can survive 

 exposure for hours outside the water without damage, or exist buried in the soft mud 

 during the dry weather, and its immense propulsive power, as shown in its migration 

 from place to place on the savannahs during the progress of the dry weather, are full 

 of interest. Its power of movement on the land, due to its great strength and to the 

 peculiar size and structure of the anterior spine of its pectoral fins, by which it makes 

 huge jumps and leaps, and generally manages to work itself back into the water if it 

 be placed on the land, is a constant source of surprise to those who witness it for the 

 first time. But the most curious feature in their life-history is to be found in their 

 breeding habits. Unlike the generality of fishes, the hassars prepare a nest for their 

 eggs, the structure being made up of leaves, straw, or grass, drawn or heaped together, 

 in which the eggs are deposited, and the males then congregate in the vicinity of the 

 nest, keeping guard as it were over the safety of the eggs. 



Of the great coast monsters, the selachians, several species are known, though 

 but little detailed observation has ever been made of them. Many species of the 

 Carcharias and Galeocerdo, from 6 to 10 feet in length, frequent the shores, especially 

 along the outsides of the wharves, where they are sometimes seen and are occasionally 

 caught. Young specimens of these genera are frequently taken in the nets of the 

 fishermen, and at times great damage is caused by the presence of those of larger 

 growth. Further at sea the species of Zygivna are obtained, small specimens being 

 met with on the mudflats. Great eagle rays, cow-nosed rays, and devil-fishes ( Ceratop- 

 tera, Rhinoptera, Aetobatis, etc.) occasionally are caught entangled in the nets, though 

 more usually they drift into the rivers, among the wharves and shipping, and get 

 entangled at the fall of the tide. So, too, with the species of Pristis (P. pectinatus 

 and perotteti) which at times are obtained about 23 feet long, with a girth of over 10 

 feet. These are usually stranded by the fall of the tide on the flats, or in some narrow 

 drainage trench along which they have traveled, unable to turn back. 



As will have been gathered from the foregoing, native fish products play but little 

 part in the trade of Guiana. Isinglass, or fish-glue, is exported in small quantities, 

 this being the dried swim-bladder of the gilbacker fish, which is perhaps more plenti- 

 fully taken than any other of the common food-fishes of the coast. 



The chief fresh-water fishes, as already described, form the chief portion of the 

 animal food of the native Indians, who, when no better can be obtained, boil up any 

 of the smaller kinds, with an abundant supply of peppers, thus making a palatable and 

 nutritious, but extremely hot, sauce, to be taken with the baked cassava or manioc 

 cakes, which, to them, take the place of the " staff of life." 



Parts of a few species are applied to industrial purposes by the Indians, of which 

 the jaw of the perai, already mentioned, may be taken as an example. The finely- 

 toothed palate bones of the arapaima (Sudis gigas) are highly, prized by them, and are 

 used as files to rub down and smooth off the bows made of the hard woods " washiba," 

 "tibicuse," and "letterwood." The skins of a few species, such as the tiger fish 

 (Platystoma tu/rinum), are made into pouches, and the fish mentioned is usually selected 

 by the peaiman, or "medicine man." By many of the savannah Indians, scraping 

 implements or tattooing instruments are made of the anterior serrated spine of many 

 of the siluroid fishes, the sharp edges being protected by a small bamboo case. 





