78 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



STKIPICD GRUNT. 



UKRMUDA GROUPER. 



few moments' study, for they change colors 

 at frequent intervals, as do the wide-mouthed 

 groupers. The parrots are as gaudy as their 

 namesakes, and as varied in their colors and 

 ornamentation. The dainty butterfly fishes 

 are sometimes called "four-eyes," on ac- 

 count of the eye-like ornament on either side 

 near the tail. It looks enough like an eye 

 to be one, and deceives many persons, as it 

 did one who came to me in Bermuda one day 

 and asked if I had seen a fish that always 

 swam tail first. They fht in and out among 

 the caverns and nooks of the reefs, and prob- 

 ably owe their lives to their disguise, for a 

 fish always seizes his prey by the head ; in this 

 case it would be by the tail, which allows the 

 little fellow a chance to dart away. 



The queen trigger-fish is in many respects 

 far and away the handsomest of these fishes. 

 It is a strong, vigorous fish, flat-sided and 

 deep from above downward, with almost all 

 the colors of the rainbow on his body, and 

 over these black lines suggestive of a huge 

 bridle on his head. All the fins have long 

 velvet-black streamers, that fly like pennons 

 as he swiftly swims about the tank. These 

 are very rare in Bermuda, and for three sea- 

 sons the fishermen kept a faithful lookout for 

 them before bringing one in. 



The morays are marine, eel-like fishes, and 

 while the smaller speckled morays are beau- 

 tiful in their bright spangled liveries, the 

 great green morays, from six to eight feet 

 long, inspire respect from their ferocious as- 

 pect. Said one of the "Mudian" fishermen, 

 when I asked him to bring one to me alive 

 and unhurt : "Why, sir, if I saw a green 

 moray coming up one side of my boat I'd 

 jump ofif the other side as fast as I could." 

 But he finally brought me several specimens. 



The doctors are shaped like a melon-seed, 

 and have a curious lance-like weapon on each 

 side of the tail, whence they derive their name. 

 The little sergeant-majors are branded with 

 black and yellow, and are very conspicuous on 

 the reefs. Lack of space prevents even a men- 

 tion of the names of the other forty or fifty 

 varieties of tropical fishes, each possessing 

 some feature of interest. 



Tropical fishes were first shown in New 

 York in the old Barnum Museum, at the cor- 

 ner of Broadway and Ann Street, and they 

 were brought there from Bermuda by one of 

 the members of the New York Zoological So- 

 ciety, Mr. William E. Damon, whose story of 

 his trials, crowned finally by success, sounds 

 like the story of one of the labors of Her- 

 cules. They were advertised in the true Bar- 

 num style, and proved a great drawing-card, 

 as thev do to-day in the Aquarium at Batterv 

 Park. ' 



The fishermen catch the fishes out on the 

 coral reefs, where the water is clear as crystal, 

 and where the plants and animals make a gor- 

 geous rainbow display of color, of which the 

 fishes form a harmonious part. They use 

 traps or pots made of poultry-fence wire, and 

 patterned after pots made two hundred years 

 ago of cedar twigs and palmetto-leaf fibres. 

 They bait the pots with "black shells" (small 

 mussels), pounded fine, damaged salt codfish, 

 or crushed crabs or lobsters. They haul 

 twice a week, and bring their fish alive and 

 uninjured to the docks in well-smacks and 

 dress them as they sell them. We have our 

 headquarters on a little island in the harbor 

 of Hamilton, which the boats pass as they 

 come in. As we spy them we make out to 

 them in a rowboat with a large tank in it. If 

 they have caught anything curious or rare 



