34 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



and is here verging perceptibly toward 



Portion of the transparent Iiackground of the 

 bowfin group to show the painting of the male bow- 

 fln with tlie swarm of newly-hatched yoting 



extinction, for its immature spawn is 

 used as a caviar and our fishermen have 

 devised means of well-nigh exterminat- 

 ing it. The third group exhibits the 

 spawning habits of the gar pike, whose 

 close-set armor of enamel plates suggests 

 at once the bony- and glossy-scaled 

 fossil fishes which one finds abundant 

 from the age of the Old Red Sandstone 

 onward. The fourth group shows a gan- 

 oid which has nearly attained the ap- 

 pearance and structure of a modern 

 bony fish. This is the dogfish or bowfin, 

 Amia, which though known fossil from 

 many parts of the world, is practically 

 restricted to-day to the waters of the 

 Middle West. 



The last three groups mentioned have 

 lately been placed on exhibition. They 

 are the work of Mr. Dwight Franklin, of 

 the Museum's department of prepara- 

 tion, who collected the material and 

 carried out its preparation with the 

 greatest care. The plant-life accessories 

 in the Amia group were executed by 

 Mr. A. E. Butler, also of the Museum's 

 staff, who had the advantage of visiting 

 Mr. Franklin in the field. Mr. Franklin 

 has prepared for the Journal a note on 

 his collecting experiences, and this is 

 published in the present number. 



It may be said that the department of 

 ichthyology of the American Museum 

 hopes to prepare at some time in the 

 near future a similar habitat group to 

 show the important division of fishes rep- 

 resented by the living sharks and rays, 

 still another group to picture the life of 

 the lungfishes, and several groups to 

 represent the bony fishes — one showing 

 the life habits of pelagic forms, another, 

 which is now well in hand, will picture 

 the "phosphorescent" fishes of the deep 

 sea, and still another the fishes of rocks 

 and surf and bright colored corals. 



