Eigenmann: The Serrasalmin.e and Mylin.e. 229 



Schomburgk, in his " Fishes of British Guiana," I, 1841, p. 225, says 

 of the pirai of Guiana: 



"This most voracious fish is found plenlifulK' in all the rivers in 

 Guiana, and is dreaded by every other inhabitant or visitant of the 

 river. Their jaws are so strong that they are able to bite off a man's 

 finger or toe. They attack fish of ten times their own weight, and 

 devour all but the head. They begin at the caudal fin; and the fish 

 being thus left without the principal organ of motion, is devoured 

 with ease, several going to participate of the meal. Indeed, there is 

 scarcely any animal which they will not attack, man not excepted. 

 Large alligators, which have been wounded on the tail, afford them a 

 fine chance of satisfying their hunger, and even the toes of this for- 

 midable animal are not free from their attacks. The feet of ducks 

 and geese, which are kept in the neighborhood where they are plenti- 

 ful, are almost invariably cut off, and young ones devoured alto- 

 gether; and in these places it is not safe to bathe, or even to wash 

 clothes in the river, many cases having occurred of fingers and toes 

 having been cut off by them. . . . 



"The pirai, or huma, by which name the fish just described is 

 generally known to the aboriginal tribes of British Guiana, inhabits 

 the rivers which intersect that fertile colony. They are not to be 

 found within forty miles of the coast, nor are they plentiful at the 

 upper part of the rivers. Their favourite haunt appears to be those 

 parts of the rivers which are between a hundred and a hundred and 

 fifty miles from the coast, chiefly if there be large blocks of rock, 

 about which they hover to procure themselves worms, etc. The 

 ovary in the female is double. They deposit their spawn in the 

 currentless inlets which form so peculiar a feature in the rivers of 

 Guiana; this occurs during the months of January and February, 

 at which period we found the females generally destitute of roe. 



"While we ascended the river Cabalaba, a tributary of the Coren- 

 tyn, from the east, we observed a river-cavia (Hydrochceriis capybara) 

 with five young ones, out of which number three were captured; and 

 all were deficient in their toes, they having been bitten off by the 

 pirais. 



"Whilst we were continuing our course on the river Corentyn, 

 one morning an object was observed to drift into the middle of the 

 stream, around which there appeared to be a great commtion. The 

 telescope did not assist us in coming to a conclusion what it might be; 



