Notes on Krefftius adspersus 



ERWIN O. FREUKfD 



Krefftius adspersus 



Purple-striped Gudgeon 



Photograpk by H. E. Finckh 



About ten months ago I arrived at the 

 conclusion that if my aquaria were to 

 continue to hold the interest for me 

 which they should, I would have to secure 

 some fishes that would be unique in these 

 parts. I had seen the collections of prac- 

 tically all my fellow-members of the Chi- 

 cago Aquarium Society, and all contained 

 the usual run of aquarium pets. To be 

 sure, some of these collections are splen- 

 did, but, taken on broad lines, they are 

 much the same. Nothing new has been 

 introduced for a long time, except the 

 poeciliid hybrid. I wanted something 

 which hadn't been seen here before, a 

 fish which. I could study in my pseudo- 

 scientific way, discovering if possible its 

 peculiarities and breeding habits. For 



various reasons my thoughts turned to 

 Australia and New Zealand, and I later 

 discovered that this was fertile territory 

 from my viewpoint, as none of the fishes 

 of that far-off corner of the globe had 

 been brought to the United States. With 

 this object in view I consulted the editor 

 of Aquatic Life;, whose advice and 

 assistance made the venture a success. 



It was first necessary to find a devotee 

 in Australia to co-operate with me, and a 

 very capable and enthusiastic one was 

 found in Mr. H. E. Finckh, of the Royal 

 Zoological Society. Mr. Finckh suc- 

 ceeded in getting to me a number of 

 native Australian species and, Lam glad 

 to add, has received from me a number 

 of our American warm water fishes. In 



