454 PARENTAL CARE AMONG FRESH-WATER FISHES. 



SUPPOSED VIVIPAROUS CATFISHES. 



Besides the two modes of care for the progeny ah-eady noticed, it 

 has been claimed that there is a third kind of provision for the young 

 by at least one of the American Tachisurines. Evermann and Bar- 

 ton Bean, during a visit to the so-called Indian River of Florida in 

 1896, " were convinced " that the sea catfish, known as Galeichthys 

 felis^ " is ovo viviparous." They urge that, *' according to the testi- 

 mony of competent observers among the Indian River fishermen and 

 dealers, the adult females of this catfish are found filled with well- 

 developed young in March, each rolled up in a ball and the balls 

 connected in a long string." In the opinion of Evermann and Golds- 

 borough (1902), "while the technical description is a trifle faulty, 

 the evidence points very strongly toward the ovoviviparity of the sea 

 catfish." 



It is possible, however, that the " Indian river fishermen and deal- 



^?^^«5I3rK?j^^^; ' 



Fill. o5. — Sea catfish of United States {HcxancinaticJiiliya fells). 



ers " confused the contents of the abdomen and the mouth. Certain 

 it is that males of the Galeichthys or Hexanematichthys felis carry 

 eggs within their mouths. 



Another supposed viviparous catfish is an inhabitant of South 

 American rivers. It is the lau-lau, declared by R. H. Schomburgk 

 to be, " next to the pirarucu, the largest fresh-water fish of Guiana." 

 It is, according to that author (Fishes of British Guiana, I, 194), 

 " remarkable that the young of the lau-lau are excluded from the 

 ovarium into the abdomen, in which state they might be likened to 

 the yolk of an e^g, in which the two specks of the eyes, the mouth, 

 and fins, are, however, observable. If a lau-lau should be taken when 

 near parturition, in consequence of fear the eggs pass off." A Mr. 

 Ilillhouse " assured " Schomburgk that " he had repeatedly put the 

 eggs in a glass of water, where they hatched themseh^es, and the young 

 appeared with a large yellow protuberance on its belly like the abdo- 

 men of a chicken just hatched. When left to nature, the eggs are 

 hatched in the abdomen; and wheii the young are excluded, they 



