SL¢ 
ON ASIATIC BLOWPIPE FISHES. 
By Francis Day, F.LS., F.Z.S. 
On November 6th, 1879, I read a paper before the Linnean 
Society upon “Instincts and Emotions in Fish,’ which was 
printed in the Journal of that Society, Zoological series, vol. xv. 
In that article, at. page 54, I observed that Chelmon rostratus, 
according to the account given by Hommel, ejects a single drop of 
water from its tubular mouth with which it is able to strike flies 
off plants into the water. The author of ‘An Introduction to the 
Study of Fishes’ has since remarked, with reference to this 
instinct of Chelmon, “ This statement is erroneous, and probably 
rests upon the mistaken notion that the long bill is especially 
adapted for this manceuvre, which, indeed, is practised by another 
fish of this family (Towotes)” ;* while in a popular account of 
fishes still more recently published by Mr. Seeley, there is an 
illustration in which the Towotes is represented as thus employed, 
but with the head entirely raised above the surface.t 
I propose adducing reasons for the belief, first, that the fish 
alluded to by Hommel was Chelmon rostratus; and, secondly, 
that it is physically impossible for it to have been a T'oxotes. 
The first published notice on the subject is contained in the 
‘Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London’ for 
1764, vol. liv., p. 89, t. ix..—‘ An account of a fish from Batavia, 
called Jaculator,’—respecting which Mr. Hommel, the Dutch 
Governor of the Hospital at Batavia, gave a very interesting 
account from hearsay :— “It frequents the shores and sides of the 
sea and rivers in search of food. When it spies a fly sitting on 
the plants that grow in shallow water, it swims on to a distance 
of four, five, or six feet, and then with a surprising dexterity it 
ejects out of its tubular mouth a single drop of water which never 
fails striking the fly into the sea, where it soon becomes its prey.” 
Subsequently he ‘“‘had some of these fishes caught and put into a 
tub of sea-water, which was changed every other day.” When 
reconciled to their new abode, he had flies pinned on to a slender 
stick, and “it was with inexpressible delight that he daily saw 
* Ginther, ‘Introduction to the Study of Fishes,’ p. 399. 
+ Cassell, ‘Natural History ’—Fishes, plate li. 
