I 



Macrones \)ittatus 



PEYTON MacMORRIS, M. D. 



Macrones vittatus 



The Fiddler 



! 



The striped catfish of India, Macrones 

 vittatus, was brought to the United 

 States about fifteen years ago, but did 

 not seem to long persist in collections, 

 perhaps because in those days particular 

 attention was not directed toward main- 

 taining adequate warmth for specimens 

 from tropical countries. 



In the aquarium it is a graceful fish, 

 more lively and rapid than those other 

 catfishes, native and foreign, with which 

 most of us are familiar, and decidedly 

 more pugnacious. Surgeon Day, who 

 studied it in confinement more than 



forty years ago, says : "This fish is 

 termed 'the fiddler' in Mysore. I touch- 

 ed one which was on the wet ground, at 

 which it appeared to become very irate, 

 erecting its dorsal fin and making a 

 noise resembling the buzzing of a bee, 

 evidently a sign of anger. Having put 

 some small carp into an aquarium con- 

 taining one of these fishes it rushed at 

 a small example, seized it by the middle 

 of its back and shook it like a dog killing 

 a rat, at this time its barbels were stif- 

 fened out laterally like a cat's whiskers." 

 This is in direct opposition to Eggling's 



