NO. 1861 the; archer-fish and its feats — GiLiv 279 



a Chjetodontid subsequently named Chelmo rostratus, and the other 

 a species called "the Jaculator fish," now universally known as the 

 Toxotes jaculator. In the second article the author jumped at once 

 into a notice of the characteristic habits. 



"When the Jaculator fish intends to catch a fly or any other in-^ 

 sect, which is seen at a distance, it approaches very slowly and 

 cautiously, and comes as much as possible perpendicularly under the 

 object ; then the body being put in an oblique situation, more or less 

 in this manner ,.<--^ and the mouth and eyes being near the 

 surface of the water, the Jaculator stays a moment quite immovable, 

 having its eyes directly fixed on the insect, and then begins to shoot, 

 without ever shoving its mouth above the surface of the water, out 

 of which the single drop, shot at the object, seems to rise. With 

 the closest attention," continues Hommel, "I never could see any 

 part of the mouth out of the water, though I have very often seen 

 the Jaculator fish shoot a great many drops one after another, with- 

 out leaving its place and fixed situation." 



The after history of the fish is a remarkable one. Hommel's 

 notice was the basis of all the accounts of the Archer-fish subse- 

 quently published, but not of the illustrations. In spite of Hommel's 

 repeated statement that the fish never projected "its mouth above 

 the surface of the water," later artists (as in Brehm's Tierleben) 

 represented the entire head and more thrust out of the water and 

 drop after drop ejected vertically at an insect. The illustration, like 

 many other artistic effects, reflected the imagination of the artist 

 rather than either the narrative or Nature. 



Year after year passed along — one century and much of a second — 

 and no later observers corroborated Hommel's account. Instead of 

 doing so, inhabitants of countries in which the fish in question was 

 common denied that such a habit as had been attributed to it was 

 practiced or known. The most active ichthyologist that ever lived, 

 long a resident of the same city (Batavia) as Hommel, Dr. von 

 Bleeker, in vain sought corroboration of the ancient account, and in 

 1875 declared that then the species was only fished for in the bay 

 and he had never been able to obtain living individuals. It was no 

 longer raised as appears to have been the case in the past century, 

 •either by Europeans or Chinese, and neither the Chinese nor natives, 

 either at Batavia or elsewhere, practiced or knew about the pre- 

 tended industry. Consequently he believed that the celebrity of the 

 fish was undeserved and arose from some mistake; "la celebrite 

 n'est pas meritee et ne repose que sur une erreur" were his exact 

 words. 



