Judging by its behavior in captivity, this 

 dainty little fish eats only living, moving food. 

 Insect larvae and small Crustacea are always 

 eaten readily, and such animals are doubtless 

 the usual natural food. 



Very trulv yours, 

 H. W. SMITH, Commissioner, 

 Bureau of Fisheries, Washington, D. C. 



Mr. Walter Lee Rosenberger, 



Dear Sir: — The genus of chaetodons is a 

 group of some seventy species of small tropical 

 fishes, found in the West Indies and in the 

 Indo Pacific, and under the English name of 

 containing the angel fish and the rock beauties 

 and the rook hinds. 



The Mesogonistius, commonly called chaeto- 

 don, is also known by the name of Black 

 Banded Sunfish. It belongs to the order of 

 Percesosces, and the family centrarchidae, or, 

 in English, Sunfishes. Its generic name is 

 Mesogonistius and specific name is Chaetodon. 



It is a fresh water fish found in the tributary 

 streams of the Delaware and other places, and 

 while a different genus from lepomis — our 

 common and Long-eared Sunfish, is still a true 

 Sunfish; as it belongs to the same family, its 

 spawning habits are the same. 



It is a nest builder — that is to say, it clears 

 a circular place in the sand spot selected, and 

 deposits the eggs in the center, and takes care 

 of them. The spawning period is doubtless 

 the same as our common Sunfish, or from the 

 middle of June to the middle of August, de- 

 pending somewhat on the condition of the 

 water temperature. / have qualified this state- 

 ment, because I have not 7nyself covie across 

 the fish upon the nest, but a^n depending on 

 the say-so of others. 



Probably the eggs and the young are cared 

 for, according to the general rule, by the 

 male alone, although both the male and the 

 female perform this duty, as is sometimes the 

 case with the common Sunfish, 



It is, like its relations, a carnivorous fish, 

 living probably on both vertebrate and in- 

 vertebrate life, small enough for it to eat. 



