286 THE PLANT WORLD 



collection. It was soon understood what we wanted, and the natives 

 handed out the rarest and most curious forms in their baskets. Seale 

 offered to pay for them all, but many refused, saying that the fish they 

 had given were worth little for food. Many pleasant repartees were 

 exchanged by Susana and her victims, and there were peals of laughter 

 wherever she went. They called her " chelu-ho " (sister) and seemed 

 proud to be robbed. 



Returning to my house, we sorted out the various species into little 

 piles. We were accompanied by two of the fishermen, so that they might 

 give us the vernacular names and tell us how the different kinds are 

 usually caught, whether by net or hook or by trawling. Susana knew 

 nearly all the names, and she told us which were best for food. I took 

 notes on the colors while the fish were still fresh, as most of them begin 

 to fade immediately after they are put into alcohol. Nothing more 

 striking could be imagined than the brightly colored and strangely formed 

 fishes in our collection — snake-like sea eels (Ophicthus, Muraena, and 

 Echidna) ; voracious lizard-fishes (Synodus) ; gar-like hound-fishes 

 (Tylosurus), with their jaws prolonged into a sharp beak; half-beaks 

 (Hemiramphus), with the lower jaw projecting like an awl and the upper 

 one having the appearance of being broken off ; long-snouted trumpet- 

 fishes (Fistularia) ; flounders {Platophrys pavo) ; porcupine-fish {Diodon 

 hystrix), bristling with spines ; mullets of several kinds (Mugil), highly 

 esteemed as food-fishes ; pike-like Sphyraenas ; squirrel-fishes (Holocen- 

 trus) of the brightest and most beautiful colors — scarlet, rose, and 

 silver, and yellow and blue ; surmullets (Upeneus and Pseudupeneus) 

 of various shades of yellow, marked with bluish lines from the eye to 

 the snout; parrot-fishes (Scarus), with large scales, parrot-like beaks, and 

 intense colors, some of them a deep greenish blue, others looking as 

 though painted opaque blue and pink ; variegated Chaetodons, called 

 "sea butterflies" by the natives; black-and-yellow banded banner-fish 

 {Zanclus canescens); trunkfishes (Ostracions), with horns and armor; 

 a gaily striped surgeon fish ( Teuthis lijieahis) called hiyug, with longi- 

 tudinal stripes of yellow-black-blue-black-yellow ; leopard-spotted group- 

 ers {Epinephelus hexagonahis) , like the cabrillas of the Peruvian coast ; 

 cardinal-fishes iApogon fasciatvs) striped from head to tail with bands 

 of black and flesh color ; hideous-looking warty toad-fishes ( ' ' nufa ' ' ) 

 armed with poisonous spines, much dreaded by the natives ; and a 

 black fish called tataga {Monoceras viarginatiis) , with a spur on its 

 forehead and two sharp processes on the peduncle of its tail. 



The natives do not now devote themselves to fishing so extensively 

 as formerly, yet many of them have cast nets with which they catch 

 small fish swimming in schools near the beach, and a few have traps and 

 seines. To-day the large pool in which the poison was sunk was sur- 



