THE \TRSATILE GURNARD 



to form dangerous kokri-like knives, which, at a 

 sweep of the tail, must be as effective weapons as 

 the sheathed scalpels of the surgeon-fish. 



In the Bay of Port-au-Prince, I found young 

 gurnards coming occasionally to the submerged 

 light at night, swimming slowly along with half 

 spread pectorals. They allowed themselves to be 

 caught with ease. One evening, while visiting 

 Mr. H. H. Rogers' yacht not far from our anchor- 

 age, I won eternal fame as a fish charmer by lean- 

 ing over the gangway platform and allowing a 

 small gurnard to swim straight into my hand — my 

 astonishment being quite as great as that of the 

 captured fish. 



When wearing a diving-helmet and sitting 

 quietly on the bottom of a coral reef three or 

 four fathoms down, I have seen small gurnards, 

 individuals measuring from two to four inches 

 in length. These swam slowly, and frequently 

 alighted gently on a sprig of coral or on a sponge, 

 examined it carefully, and then took off again. 

 Specialized as these little beings are, they are no 

 recent innovation, and from the moment when 

 I was making notes about them on my zinc plate 

 at the bottom of the sea, back to the time when 

 the earliest flying gurnard flew over and walked 

 in Eocene seas, — all this is a matter of not less 

 than fifty million years. 



In large aquariums on my schooner, I watched 

 these fish at leisure and was astonished at their 

 peripatetic facility. Every movement brought to 



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