736 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



AS HE MIGHT LOOK IN CIVILIZED DRESS. 

 Photo by R. Sutcliffe. 



storm or plague. Porliap.s the earliest known 

 was the fish-headed god Cannes, or Hea, of the 

 ancient Chaldeans, but the Greeks and Romans 

 and various other peoples on down through the 

 Middle Ages believed in tritons, nereids, mer- 

 maids, sea-satyrs, etc. Even the early natural 

 history of Aldrovanus, Gesner and others was 

 not free from such suppositious animals which 

 were figured in some of these works. 



Africa, the land of so many mysteries, has 

 yielded up the original of another fabulous mon- 

 ster. Anyone familiar with the Arabian Nights 

 will easily recognize from our illustrations "The 

 Old Man of the Sea." It might also be the 

 original of the "Sea Bishop" of Gesner, Sluper 

 and others, but from the fact that this aquatic 

 member of the clergy was "seen off the coast of 

 Poland" and there is no mention of a South 

 African marine diocese. 



At any rate the fish head here shown is very 

 interesting. The photographs were made at the 

 Aquarium from the dried head which was 

 brought from Capetown, South Africa, by the 

 owner, Mr. Robert A. Hunt. Except for the 

 evident additions made by the photographer, the 

 specimen was not manipulated in any way. The 

 ragged outline at the back of the head shows 

 where it was severed from the body. The lines 

 on the lower part of the face are natural and 

 are the outlines of the maxillarj' and other bones 

 of the jaws. The proboscis has shrunk some- 



what in drying. In life the resemblance to the 

 human face was even more striking. 



We are indebted to Mr. Hunt for the data 

 and for the pleasure of examining the dried 

 head, and some original snap shots taken just 

 after the head was severed from the body. 



Literature is not at hand for the identifica- 

 tion of the species, but it appears to belong to 

 the family Sparidac, and if this is the case it 

 would l)e related to our shcepshead. 



The conical front teeth are shown in the cut. 

 The lateral teeth are very strong and molar-like, 

 evidently for the jiurpose of crushing shells and, 

 like the famous king of the Cannibal Islands, 

 "he lias two rows in his lower jaw." R. C. O. 



GREEN MORAY. 



A LARGE green moray died on December 

 ;>(), after living in the Aquarium seven years 

 and six months. When brought from Ber- 

 muda by Director Townsend, June 30, 190.3, this 

 specimen measured four feet in length. At the 

 time of its deatli it was six feet long. j\Ir. De 

 Nyse informs me that during the last two years 

 of its captivity it would take no food voluntarily. 

 It was thus necessary to force food down its 

 throat. The food thus administered would be 

 retained for a while until partially digested, 

 when the remnants would be regurgitated, but 

 no meal was ever disposed of fully or permanent- 

 ly for more than two years. R. C. O. 



AQUARIUM NOTES. 



Fish-Haichery. — During 1910, the United 

 States Bureau of Fisheries presented us with the 

 following spawn for our model hatchery: white- 

 fish 1,500,000; Atlantic salmon 5,000; white 

 perch 1,500,000; shad 800,000. Our collector 

 took 750.000 yellow perch and the Tuxedo Club 

 of New York presented us with 7,000 steelhead 

 trout spawn. These eggs were successfully 

 hatched, with the exception of the white perch 

 eggs which arrived in poor condition, in our 

 troughs and hatchery jars, making an interest- 

 ing and instructive exhibit from the first of the 

 year till fhe middle of June. The fry are re- 

 turned to the Government authorities to be lib- 

 erated in various waters or are disposed of to 

 clubs, etc. 



The disposition of the fry was as follows: 

 quinnat salmon fry to the number of 3,000, were 

 liberated in Lake Roliil', Jenson Kill, New York, 

 on April 21, from the hatching of the previous 

 year and sixty-five silver salmon were given to 

 Mr. Mabie in exchange ; on April 27, 20,000 yel- 

 low perch were liberated in the 77th Street lake 



