190 BLUEFIELDS. 



brown. Cuba possesses both species in common with 

 Jamaica. 



CURIOUS FISHES. 



July 2nd. — It is very pleasant to stand upon the 

 rocks and admire the beautiful fishes of many kinds 

 and gay hues that play about at one's feet, or explore 

 the crevices and tortuous channels for food. My 

 admiration was especially attracted this morning to 

 one which I had not before seen, but which, as I had 

 no means of capturing it, I had no opportunity of 

 identifying. As well as I could judge it was of a 

 percoid form, rather high, and about a foot in length. 

 The back was marked with ring-spots of black on a 

 pale ground, and the under parts were of a rich 

 crimson. He played about in a narrow passage 

 between the rocks for half an hour, occasionally 

 nibbhng at the projections of the rock, and now and 

 then turning up his radiant belly to smell at some 

 weed. He was evidently seeking his breakfast. This 

 manner of feeding resembled the browsing of the 

 Spar idee. 



A lovely little Cheetodon (C. striatus) banded with 

 black and rich yellow, plays about in the creek at 

 low water ; occasionally picking something from the 

 surfaces of the stones, and sometimes butting at them 

 repeatedly, so as to rebound a few inches. This same 

 propensity has been noticed in another hemisphere ; 

 M. Freycinet, in his Voyage round the World, re- 

 cords, that when wading over the coral reef encircling 

 the island of Guam, in the Indian Archipelago, in 

 search of moUusca, he was assailed by a small Chseto- 



