ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



209 



pictures of the horned-mullet and sea-bass. Mr. 

 Spencer has also made some excellent photographs 

 of living corals. Mr. Sanborn's pictures of the 

 young striped bass, crappie, and pickerel, made 

 in the same way, are equally satisfactor)-. The 

 pictures of the outdoor photographic tank contain- 

 ing sea-horse and sunfish were made b.\' Mr. 

 Beasley. As an example of instantaneous outdoor 

 work, with the small tank, the picture by Mr. 

 Letkemann, showing six specimens of the pearl 

 roach, is unsurpassed both in depth, distinctness, 

 and artistic arrangement. 



^Ir. Sanborn recently un- 

 dertook the making of flash- 

 light pictures directly from 

 the large exhibition tanks, the 

 results of which are pre- 

 sented in this bulletin. The 

 greatest difficulty encoun- 

 tered was getting the groups 

 of fishes into focus, and it 

 seems impossible to do this 

 with all the fishes in sight; 

 usually, however, a sufficient 

 number are sharply outlined. 

 The best results were finally 

 secured by exploding flashes 

 on each side of the camera 

 simultaneously. It was found, 

 also, that better results could 

 be secured bv working at 



night, rather than by day, 

 electric lights being first 

 turned on immediately above 

 the water to permit of good 

 focus on the fishes. In photo- 

 graphing the big tanks there 

 were usually reflections, in 

 the glass, of the camera or the 

 operator; this was finally ob- 

 viated by the hanging of a 

 dark curtain, through which 

 mcrt'ly tlie lens was allowed 

 to show. 



.\ [ihotograph, made by the 

 writer in 1888, is presented 

 herewith as a matter of inter- 

 est in the history of live-fish 

 photography. At that time I 

 made numerous photographs 

 of living fishes on board the U. S. S. Albatross, in the 

 Pacific Ocean. The tank, constructed by myself, 

 had wooden ends and bottom, the front and back 

 being of ordinary window glass. It was about 15 

 inches long, 10 inches high, and 4 inches wide. All 

 exposures were instantaneous, made on the hurri- 

 cane deck, with the ship in motion. This work 

 was done nine years before live-fish photography 

 was taken up so successfully by Dr. Shufeldt, and 

 the present example is an average of the lot. 

 Further experiments with flash-Ught, by improved 

 nietlinds, may be exjjected to yield even better 



