GILL ON THE GOURAMI. 719 



resident of the island, and who imported specimens from Mauritius. His 

 experience has been given by M. Vinson, and, on account of its important 

 bearing on the subject of its acclimatization in other lands, is repeated 

 in his own words. M. Desmanieres had " on his estate of Bellevue, 

 situated on the uj^land of the quarter Sainte-Suzanne, a magnificent 

 natural body of water, with two islets abounding in aquatic plants. 

 Everything appeared to be favorable for the raising of the gourami, 

 but the low temperature at this part of the island had not been taken 

 into consideration. The fishes lived, but did not propagate. M. Des- 

 manieres at first thought that the large size of the pond might be the 

 cause of this, and he caused to be made two vivaria, which may yet be 

 seen, and which were supplied by the large pond. In these vivaria, the 

 gouramis were placed ; but the result was still unsatisfactory. He 

 received from the isle of France additional fishes, but even then had no 

 success. Finally, having transferred his fishes into a vivarium near the 

 sea-shore, he succeeded in inducing propagation. This experiment had, 

 however, taken thirty years ; and during this time success in propa- 

 gating the species in the island had become despaired of. As has been 

 seen, acclimatization often depends on causes very simple in appearance, 

 but which are only discovered after a long time." 



In other words, in a place where in the coldest months the tempera- 

 ture does not ordinarily fall below 67° Fahrenheit, the species did not 

 thrive and propagate. In the warmer waters of the lowland, however, 

 it immediately began to multij)ly, and is now abundant-; it is the object 

 of regular care and cultivation in vivaria or ponds, and the source of a 

 regular income ; the wealthy proprietors or planters of some districts 

 have, too, each their own private ponds. 



WEST INDIES. 



The' next earnest attempt to introduce the species into a distant 

 country was made at the instance of M. Moreau de Jonnes, who, in 

 1818, induced the " minister of marine" of France to order the trans- 

 portation of specimens to the French possessions in the West Indies. 

 Accordingly, in April, 1819, a hundred small fishes were intrusted to 

 the care of M. de Mackau, captain of a storeship, Le Golo, and the in- 

 terest and zealous care manifested by that officer were rewarded by the 

 comparatively slight loss of only twenty-three fishes during the entire 

 voyage to the West Indies ; and when it is recalled that a slight blow, 

 an abrasion of the sides, or loss of a scale, may cause death, and the 

 difficulty of adjusting the supply of fresh water, &c., to their necessi- 

 ties is taken into consideration, the small percentage of the loss mast 

 be considered as remarkable. Of the seventy-seven which remained 

 alive, twenty-sis were distributed to the islands of Martinique and Gua- 

 deloupe each, and twenty-five to the colony of Cayenne. The fortunes 

 of the strangers in their new places of abode were various. Cuvier and 



