296 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



seemed only that of curiosity — they were like city 

 strangers looking through the window of an auto- 

 mat. They fed at all hours, and twice at night 

 by the aid of a water-glass and my electric flash, 

 in shallow water, I have seen a small school scrap- 

 ing away as though it were day or at least moon- 

 light. In this noncurtailment of meal hours they 

 differed widely from carnivorous fish and re- 

 sembled their dietetic relatives — sheep and cows. 



Once, and once only, I took one on a small 

 hook, baited with crab meat, so I suspected they 

 were not wholly vegetarian in their scrapings. I 

 sought confirmation in the examination of a num- 

 ber of stomachs. About sixty per cent contained 

 solid masses of green, succulent algae, and in the 

 others there were in addition bits of rock and 

 shell, and remains of crabs, shrimps, sea-urchins, 

 worms, and all the odds and ends of animal life 

 which find shelter in the short seaweed fur of the 

 rock surfaces. 



The viability of the yellow-tails is very high, 

 and I can recall no instance of a harpooned fish 

 failing to live and thrive in our aquariums when re- 

 stored to running water immediately after cap- 

 ture. None, however, long survived the tainted 

 waters of Panama and Colon, combined with the 

 enforced lack of running salt water during the 

 passage through the canal. 



