THE FISHERMAN. 95 



are also generally provided with barbels to feel 

 their way in the muddy places where their food 

 is picked up. Their dorsal and pectoral fins are 

 generally provided with sharp spines often armed 

 with saw-like or prickly fringes, which make 

 them dangerous to handle. When taken out of 

 the water they make spasmodic movements with 

 their armed pectorals, at the same time uttering 

 a short grunt. Serious wounds are sometimes 

 inflicted in this way. The Indian long ago found 

 out that these spines were dangerous and utilised 

 them for arrow-points and barbs. 



As may be supposed in a country everywhere 

 intersected by water-courses, fish must be very 

 abundant. The streams are not often clear but 

 muddy and loaded with organic and inorganic 

 matter, dissolved, suspended, or afloat. When the 

 flood inundates the forest it takes up myriads of 

 fruits and drowns swarms of ants, termites, beetles, 

 and other insects. Many of these are eaten by 

 the fish, which spread with the rising waters, but 

 there is always an enormous residuum to flow 

 into the rivers and feed the great cat-fishes. 



The food of fishes is as varied as the species, 

 and in Guiana they are exceedingly numerous. 

 Among the cat-fishes is a section with armour- 

 plates, which the negroes compare to toenails. 



