94 



VERTEBRATA. PISCES. 



HORNED CH^TODON (Ch. Corratus). 



frequent rocky shores, and are good food. Freyci- 

 net, in his Voyage round the World, records that, in 

 wading over the coral-reefs at the Island of Guam, 

 in search of Mollusca, he was assailed by a very small 

 Chaetodon, not bigger than his hand : it butted at 

 his hand, and pertinaciously refused to be driven 

 away. Some species, C. Rostratus for example, 

 have the snout lengthened into a tube, open only 

 at the end, which is applied to an extraordinary use, 

 that of shooting flies ! The fish approaches under a 

 fly which it has discovered, resting on a leaf or twig, 

 a few feet above the water, taking care not to alarm 

 it by too sudden a motion ; then, projecting the tip 

 of its beak from the surface, it shoots a single drop 

 at the insect with so clever an aim, as very rarely to 

 miss it, when it falls into the water and is devoured. 

 Being common in the Indian seas, it is often kept 



