294 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



can be driven into it. Small specimens buried in the sand may also 

 be taken in a dip-net. 



4. Tarafa, or Casting-net. — A tarafa or casting-net is very useful, 

 especially at night and in muddy water. These conical nets can 

 be thrown into the pot-holes of waterfalls, where no other kind of net 

 can be used. They also can be cast between logs, in rapids, in muddy 

 and grassy places, and do not necessarily require the entrance of 

 the operator into the water, which is frequently dangerous. A small 

 fine- meshed casting-net is needed for small species, while a net with 

 large coarse meshes is necessary for large fishes. 



5. Diverting Stream into Net. — In some of the mountain rills a net 

 having a fine mesh can be put into the stream and then a portion of 



. the stream above the net may be deflected into another channel. 

 Everything may thus be taken. This is an especially good method 

 of collecting Pygidiidce. 



6. Rod and Line, Throwing Lines. — A rod and line are good for 

 small fishes, but wire leaders are needed, because several species are 

 capable of cutting other kinds of leaders. For large catfishes, like 

 Jahu and Pirahyba, a strong throwing line with a large hook is re- 

 quired. It is safer to tie the line to something, especially when fishing 

 from the rocky ledges of waterfalls, where during the dry season one 

 may easily hook a fish which one person cannot handle unaided. 



7. Trot- or Set-lines. — Catfishes may readily be taken upon properly 

 baited set-lines, but Piranhas and Candirus soon devour the fishes 

 after they have been hooked. The destruction of specimens caused 

 by these carnivorous fishes is not so great in extremely deep as in 

 shallow water. 



8. Fish-traps. — Fish-traps are useful along the banks of rivers 

 and in deep water. Traps of different sizes and shapes may easily 

 be made from vines and bamboos. Different kinds of bait must 

 be used for different kinds of fishes. Below rapids and falls the 

 Indians put in bamboo platforms when the streams are beginning 

 to fall, and the fish pile up on them when they start over the falls. 

 Along the lower Amazon where tidal effects are great, the natives 

 put in long plaited wings leading up to a central pen which has an 

 easily flexible entrance like any fish-trap, but no exit. When the 

 tide falls the fish are left high and dry. 



9. Snares. — -Snares made of wire, thread, and fiber of bark can be 

 used successfully for species which will not take a hook, and are hard 

 to catch in a seine. 



