Dr. E. P. Wright on the Transportation of Living Fish. 439 
they flow in very deep rocky channels which are sometimes 
filled up by immense boulders or blocks of granite which have 
fallen off from the mountain’s side; the stream then flows 
silently beneath them, reappearing at some distance. Here and 
there, as the water makes its way over some projecting ledge 
of rock, there will be a tiny waterfall, and below this a deep 
rock-pool. It is in such that these little fish abound. Large 
specimens will be met with about four inches in length, but in 
general they are not more than about three inches long. The 
colour of the body in an adult specimen is a light olive 
hue ; but the opercular bones are streaked with red lines, and 
seven longitudinal rows of red spots correspond to the series of 
scales. The red on an olive-coloured ground has a very pretty 
effect; and Haplochilus Playfairti would be a very pleasing 
addition to our freshwater aquaria. ‘These fish were easily 
caught with a small water-net; they were of an inquisitive 
turn of mind; and when I let the net float for a few moments 
in the water, it was always sure to be inspected by some of the 
older fish, who would even go so far as to enter it—a fact of 
which I generally took advantage, and, drawing the net in, 
would transfer them to a bottle of spirits. One little stream (the 
one which supplied the Government Hospital and Dr. Brooke’s 
house, in which I was residing, with water) abounded with 
these fish; and as the stream was not far from the house, the 
thought struck me, would it not be possible to keep them in 
an aquarium, and watch their habits. The great heat, however, 
was against this, and specimens brought home to live generally 
died very soon, so that I despaired of ever bringing any to 
Europe alive. However, the day before the mail for Europe 
was expected, I took a dozen of them from the nearest rock- 
pool, and placed them in a large foot-bath in my bed-room : 
the next morning three were dead. The ‘ Erymanthe’ made 
her appearance in the roadstead about 1 o’clock, and I was 
obliged to go at once on board. I had a vast number of 
packages, including a young leopard, now in the Zoological 
Gardens, which had been brought from Zanjibar and was given 
to me by my friend Commander Bradshaw, of H.M.S. ‘Star,’ 
and some three dozen birds; and it was with some difficulty 
that I sueceeded in bringing with me a small eight-ounce 
glass jar with the nine fish. A sail of about an hour brought 
us to the mail-steamer ; and when, after some necessary delays, 
I got on board, they were all still living. I was not on board 
many minutes when I found that the ‘ Krymanthe’ would not 
start until early the followimg morning, so as to allow the 
Bishop of Mauritius to have service on shore and to take 
farewell of the Seychelles; and as the bishop was to be 
