rium made to onlt-r for the- s])t*c'ial purpose 

 of lihotographing all kinds of animals, under 

 water or not, as the ease might be. With 

 this device I secured some beautiful nega- 

 tives of living fishes, turtles, marine inver- 

 tebrates, newts, etc. Sulvsequently, I 

 studied the results obtained through the 

 employment of similar aquaria used by 

 Spencer of the Ncav York Aquarium, and 

 others. At this time, I am about to order 

 a similar device for photograjihic purposes, 

 and I trust to i)ublish, in the ])resent maga- 

 zine, a few of the results I obtain. 



Some days ago I succeeded in securing a 

 few excellent negatives of a fine adult speci- 

 men of Spelerpes rube) — the Red Triton — 

 which is fairlj" abundant in the country dis- 

 tricts about Washington. My i)ictures. so 

 far. are of the animal out of water, and one 

 of the best of them is here reproduced as 

 an illustration to these notes. It was col- 

 lected for me by Mr. G. W. H. Soelner, of 

 343() Seventeenth Street, this city, a nat- 

 uralist who has made a specialty of mollusks, 

 and has a fine collection of them, including 

 many rare species. 



Many of the Urodelci are most interest- 

 ing and instructive forms to keep in aquaria, 

 their several metamorphoses and life afford- 

 ing some of the most important and in- 

 structive data in the entire range of biology. 

 I have fi-equently kept the Sjwtted Triton 

 (Diemyctylux viridesceiis) and i)hotograi)hed 

 it alive under water. Its habits in cajitiv- 

 ity are well worthy of study. 



Years ago I had them breed in an aqua- 

 rium, but the young were all killed by a 

 small pike that lived in the same tank. My 

 Red Triton has now lived over a month in 

 a small china-lined receptacle, without hav- 

 ing eaten anything, and yet it appears none 

 the worse for the exjierience. 1 may say 

 that 1 have next to it, in a glass jar half 

 full of water, a large sjjecimen of the (Hant 

 Water-bug {Belostoma ameticfmuui) , which 

 has not eaten anything for nearly six weeks. 

 He is in fine condition, and a day or two 

 age I threw him a small, live grasshopper, 



which he at once siezed in his mandibles in 

 the most voracious manner possible. He 

 did not consume it, hoAvever, being api)a- 

 rently satisfied by sucking the fluid parts 

 from it and ignoring all the rest. This 

 specimen spends nearly all his time floating 

 just beneath the surface of the water; but 

 if one jars the recejitacle in which he li\ es, 

 the least bit, he at once swims about in the 

 most frantic style imaginable. I have ob- 

 tained good photographs of Belostovtn, but 

 have never experimented Avith keeping 

 them in aquaria with other animals. 



On the whole, I have been very success- 

 tiil in keeping native fishes — for I care but 

 little for goldfish in conii)arison — such as 

 several species of sunfishes, the pickerel, 

 cat fishes, eels, sticklebacks and some dozen 

 others — alive. My best object lesson, 

 however, Avas gained from the study of a 

 large number of Amhlystoma tigrinum, which 

 I kept for long periods together. My ob- 

 servations on the subject appeared in several 

 letters to the editor of Science, beginning 

 in the issue of October 22, 1886 (p. 367), 

 where some of the points in the habits of 

 these animals Avere published for the first 

 time. 



Fish Life of a Florida Swamp 



JOHN TRKADWEI.I. NICHOLS, New Vork 



WR have left the shalloAV Avaters which 

 fringe the (hdf of Mexico and en- 

 tered Shark River, an oi)ening betAveen the 

 strange mangrove trees groAving in the 

 Avater, and Avhich here stretch north and 

 south for miles, forming the Avest coast of 

 Florida. The channel is deep enough for 

 a large boat to penetrate far into the inte- 

 rior to clear, fresh Avater, and a fcAV more 

 miles in small boats bring us to a stretch of 

 river betAveen banks of mangrove trees, 

 bushes and grass, glistening under the sun, 

 Avhich is uncomfortably hot, though the 

 month is February. 



The whole scene teems with life. "Yip, 

 yip, yip ! " comes the cry of a fish-hawk 



m 



