NOTES. 147 



Crustacea belonging to the genus Caridina, were in the chatty with 

 them, which they were not eating. These " kuni " thrive equally 

 well in running water, as low- country rivers and mountain streams, 

 where they retreat under stones, &c., and in still water, as tanks 

 and ponds, where they flourish among the vegetation near the edge. 

 In some places they occur in such quantity as to make it worth 

 while to dry them for use in curry. Their presence in water is a 

 good sign, and they constitute an important source of fish food. 

 Those which had been put into the chatty with the lula fry were 

 perhaps too large. I was unable to keep a running supply of live 

 " kuni," and did not succeed in finding out definitely the best food 

 for the young fishes, but I kept some of them alive in an aquarium 

 for more than 5 months, during which time I put in various nutrient 

 substances, water plants, chironomus larvae {i.e., lake-fly larvae), 

 roast gram, rice, chopped hard-boiled egg-yolk, &c., the principal 

 pabulum being gram and yolk. 



These substances promoted a luxuriant multiplication of micro- 

 organisms, more especially cihate infusoria of the genera Stentof, 

 Paramoecium, Blepharisma (with hook-shaped rostrum), and Spiros- 

 tomum* The water became absolutely milky with Spirostomum, 

 a protozoan animalcule, which is easily visible to the unaided eye, 

 and is in fact the longest of the Cihata. Gram which had been 

 placed over night in the aquarium sometimes appeared like large 

 flakes of snow in the morning, owing to the enornious aggregation 

 of Spirostoma about the grains. I cannot say whether the young 

 lulu fed upon the protozoa, but those which survived were vigorous 

 to the end. They were actually seen to nibble at the particles of 

 yolk, but the truth is that to this day I do not know precisely what 

 is the best vehicle of nutrition for lula fry when kept in close 

 confinement under artificial conditions not even approximating to 

 nature. The experiment, however, is useful in so far as it demon- , 

 strates their great viabiHty. 



The water supplied to the tank was well-water, and it was kept at 

 a depth of 1^ to 3 inches. At the outset a great many died owing 

 to the too abrupt change. After the initial mortality more deaths 

 occurred from time to time for which I was imable to account, except 

 on the supposition that they were starving. On March 25, however, 

 more than a month since the beginning of the experiment, I noticed 

 one floundering helplessly amongst the floating weeds on the surface. 

 It presented a meagre, starved appearance, but on opening it a 

 prominent white fat-like mass was found in the body cavity partially 

 concealing the viscera. Tliis turned out to consist of two soft 

 writhing Cestode worms (possibly Schistocephalus larvae). Exploring 

 farther forwards in the body cavity, I found another worm of the 



* On April 11a pair of Stentor was seen in conjugation. On April 19 

 Paramoecium was noted as conjugating, Blepharisma di\'iding. 



