184 ACANTHOPTERYGII. SCALY-FINNED FAMILY, 



depth of water, are seen to sport in the sun-beams, 

 as if to exhibit to advantage their gorgeous dress. 

 Several of the genera are moreover distinguished by 

 an extraordinary habit of shooting their prey by 

 projecting a hquid stream from their mouths. Thus, 

 the genus Chelmon contains a species^ the rostratus, 

 of six or eight inches in length,which when it per- 

 ceives a fly, or other winged insect hovering over 

 the surface, or settled on a twig, propels against it, 

 with considerable force, a drop of liquid from its 

 mouth, so as to drive it into the water : in attack- 

 ing an insect at rest, it usually approaches cautiously, 

 and very deliberately takes its aim. It is said to 

 be an amusement with the Chinese in Java to keep 

 this fish in confinement in a large vessel of water 

 that they may witness its dexterity : they fasten a 

 fly, or other insect, to the side of the vessel, when 

 the Chelmon aims at it with such precision, that it 

 rarely misses its mark. The Archer, again, belong- 

 ing to another genus, Toxotus jaculator^ shoots his 

 watery deluge to the height of three or four feet, 

 and strikes almost without fail the insect at which 

 it aims. Cuvier received a specimen of this fish 

 from Batavia, whose stomach was entirely filled 

 with Ants. One species alone frequents the seas of 

 Europe : it is 



(Sp. 42.) Brama Rail Eay's Bream. (PI. X.) The 

 genus Brama belongs to that group which has the 

 scaly fins, and teeth on the vomer and palate. This 

 species is the only one now known; its body is 

 deep and compressed, and the profile is almost ver- 



