BRIEF NOTES ON FISHES. 387 



taken last September (1883), and carefully examined to 

 determine the character of the food. 



Professor Forbes further states that the " intestine of 

 this species is short and simple," and overlooks the signifi- 

 cant fact that it has a row of a dozen or more pyloric caeca, 

 which doubtless compensate for the want of length of the 

 digestive tract proper. 



Without questioning the correctness of my friend's 

 investigations on this point, I am quite sure that the can- 

 nibalistic appetite of the New Jersey pirate perches has 

 not been overstated. 



As a result of many long studies of them, in aquaria, 

 I find that they are strictly nocturnal in their habits. 

 Many fish, as eels and catfish, are essentially so, but in 

 this case it is absolutely so. In confinement I never 

 knew them to move about in search of food, although 

 they were prompt to accept it if placed directly before 

 and very near them. One large specimen, in particular, 

 which I kept for eleven months, remained during the day 

 under a little arch of stones, and so seldom varied its posi- 

 tion that it became as permanent a fixture in my mind 

 as the arch itself. I would scarcely have felt more sur- 

 prise to see the arch change its place than to have seen 

 any voluntary movement on the part of the pirate during 

 the day ; but, on the approach of evening, the fish began 

 to grow restless and moved slowly to and fro, but not 

 beyond the cover of the arch. Once let it be dark, and 

 the restlessness gave way to a disposition to roam about, 

 and this it did in an erratic, nervous manner. The result 

 of its short journeyings, however, was invariably the capt- 

 ure of a good-sized minnow, and with this it promptly 

 returned to the arch and resumed its favorite position. 

 Usually it captured a minnow far too large to be swal- 

 lowed whole, and so, with the tail projecting from its 



