VIVIPAROUS FISH. 111 
fish. I had no longer any doubt that the fish 
was viviparous, and that it was a true and normal 
case of ovarian gestation. So much for my first 
discovery; the details of my subsequent exami- 
nations [ shall again have occasion to refer to. 
It happened most curiously that a Mr. Jackson 
(I believe a government officer of the United 
States) was, about this same period, amusing 
himself by fishing at Salsalita, and caught two 
viviparous fish, a male anda female. On cutting 
open the female, to obtain a piece of the belly for 
bait, he, like myself, was astonished at seeing a 
whole bevy of tiny fish come scrambling out, and 
at first imagined, as I did, that they had been 
swallowed. He immediately wrote a letter to 
Professor Agassiz, sending the mutilated fish, 
having previously satisfied himself that they had 
not been devoured, and stating at length his sin- 
gular discovery. The professor was astonished, 
and disbelieved the possibility of the fish being 
viviparous, imagining some error had crept into 
the statement sent him by Mr. Jackson; but other 
fish in a similar state were subsequently obtained 
by Mr. Carey, and forwarded to the learned 
professor. The fact was then most undeniably 
established, that this and many other species were 
strictly viviparous. 
