New York, January 24, 1916. No. 26 



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Published to advance the Science of cold-blooded vertebrates 



BORNEO PERIOPHTHALMUS. 



Travelling on the main branch of the delta of 

 the Rejang River, northwest coast of Borneo, half 

 way between the mouth of the river and the island of 

 Sibu, which is at the beginning of the delta, July 17, 

 1912, at ten o'clock A. M., we reached the village of 

 "Billitong" where we tied up to let the tide go down, 

 which it did like a race-horse, while we slept. I pur- 

 chased five cents worth of sugar at a Chinese store 

 here and got some children to catch me nine or ten 

 mudfishes or Periophthalmus at one cent each. 



The falling tide had exposed perhaps 60 feet of 

 mud-flat at the edge of the river. At the shoreward 

 part of the flat among logs and sticks there were 

 many Periophthalmus. Some were on the logs, others 

 on the mud, others more or less hidden in the mud or 

 pools of water left by the tide. When pursued they 

 would run over the surface of the mud, sometimes 

 sinking in so as to impede their progress. The fishes 

 were very agile and slippery and the boys, flounder- 

 ing around in the mud, had great difficulty in catch- 

 ing them in their hands. The fishes seemed to have 

 no definite idea of seeking safety in the river. 



D. D. Streeter, 

 Brooklyn, N. Y. 



[Mr. Streeter has presented to the American 

 Museum of Natural History ten small gobioid fishes 



