84 BLUEFIELDS. 



table ; and has considerable pretensions to beauty, 

 for, every scale on the upper parts being bordered 

 with black, an elegant reticulate appearance is given 

 to the fish.* 



Another fish of still more minute dimensions, but 

 of remarkable beauty, is also numerous in the basin 

 of the waterfall, and all along the stream. The 

 negroes call it Tickiticky, a term formed like our 

 word Stickleback (the initial S being omitted in negro 

 pronunciation before another consonant), and allud- 

 ing to the strong spine in the anal. All along the 

 margins of the rivulet, particulai-ly where a coarse 

 grass grows in the shallows, and shoots its pointed 

 blade- tips above the surface, the Tickiticky is nu- 

 merous, herding together in little parties of half-a- 

 dozen, or a dozen, of various sizes, but none exceed- 

 ing two inches in length. They are active and 

 amusing; and leap out of the water, if pursued, 

 with great vigour. It is a beautiful little fish.-j- 



* As this Mullet seems to be hitherto unrecognised, I shall describe 

 it. Muc/il irretitus, mihi. Operculum smooth, silvery ; pre-opercu- 

 lum scaled. Lips moderately thick. Fin-ray formula : — D. 4 — 8 ; 

 A. 10; C. 17; P. 14; V. 6. Irides golden orange; upper part of 

 the body pale olive ; sides silvery ; belly white. Each scale on the 

 upper parts is bordered with black. Fins transparent ; the first dorsal 

 tinged with yellow ; the rays of all irregularly marked with black, 

 which, on the caudal, forms an indistinct blackish transverse band. 



M. monticola of Bancroft is assigned to Jamaica in Griffith's Anim. 

 Kingd. ; no description is given, but the figure does not agree with 

 the above, nor does the description of M. albula in MM. Cuv. and 

 Val.'s Poissons. 



f Tlie Tickiticky is an undescribed species of Pwcilia. with the 

 following characters. Poecilia melaplettra (Me'A.os, black ; irXfvpd, the 

 side). Fin-rays, D. 11 ; A. 10; C. 28 ; P. 13 ; V. 6. The caudal 



