32 THE TARPON 



technician. Unfortunately, I had not had the specimen 

 drawn. Consequently, all I have left is a brief description 

 and a comparison of this supposed larval tarpon with 

 larvae of the related species, Flops saurus and Alhula 

 vulpes, which pass through a leptocephalus stage like the 

 tarpon and the eels. ' ' 

 It is to be regretted that this specimen met such a fate be- 

 fore its identification was complete but no one who knows 

 the Doctor will doubt the accuracy of his conclusions. 



An important contribution relating to the life history of 

 the tarpon has been supplied by the distinguished scientist, 

 Dr. William Beebe. In one of his expeditions to Haiti so charm- 

 ingly described in his book Beneath Tropic Seas, he gives the 

 following account of his discovery of very small tarpon : 



"About fifteen miles west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 

 along the shore of the Gulf itself, are two interconnected, 

 land-locked lagoons known as Source Matelas, I visited 

 them first with General John H. Russell on the 13th of 

 January in the hope of getting a brace of ducks. At the 

 last minute, I put a small seine in the car in case any fish 

 might be procurable. 



"We had bad luck as regards ducks, for there was only 

 a quartet of blue-winged teal and these left before we got 

 within gun shot. Willets, Louisiana herons and yellow 

 legs composed the remaining bird life of the lagoon. Gray 

 king birds and mocking birds called and sang in the tops 

 of the low trees and grass quits and migrating warblers 

 hopped about the under brush. 



"The more western of the lagoons was a rounded body 

 of water about 100 yards across, on a marshy promontory 

 backed by low, rolling hills. These were covered with the 

 usual semi-arid vegetation, consisting of cactus, cereus 

 and acacias. From the waters of the golf the lagoon is 

 separated only by a narrow dike built up apparently by 

 the action of the storm waves at high water. 



"I walked into the ooze at the edge of the lagoon and 

 out to the center. There I found half a foot of mud and 



