32 



MEMOIRS OF THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM 



planted with various native and exotic water-plants, one with Victoria regia, one 

 with lotus, and so forth. The Lam aha trench is abundantly supplied with in- 

 digenous water-plants. 



We began seining in the trenches of Georgetown as soon as our baggage was 

 cleared and other preliminaries were attended to, and devoted four days to them. 

 Toward the end of our stay in the country Mr. Shideler devoted himself again to 

 the trenches, and particularly to those of the Botanic Garden, one of which he 

 drained of its water, the results being given in a list published in a later chapter. 



We took altogether thirty-nine species (to which Mr. Ellis has added another) 

 from the trenches, four of which we found nowhere else in Guiana: Plecostomus 

 watwata, the sea-hassar, Ctenobrycon spilurus, Pcecilia vivipara, and Acanthophacelus 

 melanzonus. 



The first is found from Georgetown along the coast to Para. The second has 

 been taken only in Georgetown and Surinam. A close relative is exceedingly 



Fig. 3. View of the lowlands looking seaward from the railway near Mahaica. 



abundant in the Amazons. The third is widely distributed in the West Indies and 

 South America, while the last has not been taken elsewhere. The water in most 

 of the trenches in which we collected is fresh ; that in a muddy pond at the lower 

 end of the town may be at times contaminated with brackish water. Few of the 

 species characteristic of brackish water were taken in the trenches. There were no 



