40 Aquatic Life 
mating, and, as the gorgeously colored 
males chased the females about in the 
clear water of the pools, a scene was pre- 
sented that I have never forgotten. To 
the best of my recollection I would say 
that some of the old males exhibited 
markings of a bright azure blue in addi- 
tion to the orange ones; but I may be 
mistaken about this. My Louisiana field 
notes are not at hand at this writing; but 
I remember that in them I had drawings 
of both the male and female of this ele- 
gant little butterfly of a fish. Indeed, 
Mollienisia latipinna might well be called 
the “Butterfly Fish,” in the absence of 
any other vernacular name found in Jor- 
dan and Evermann for it. 
———— 
The Water - Asel 
JOHN LEE BENNINGTON 
The. Water-asel or Slater, Asellus, is, 
barring the Pill-bug, Armadillidium vul- 
gare, the most familiar of the order Iso- 
poda, a division of animals of the class 
Crustacea. Of the seven American spe- 
cies, Asellus communis is the one most 
frequently met. It measures about three- 
fifths of an inch in length, with a breadth 
of one-fifth. . Superficially it resembles 
A. aquaticus, which is illustrated. It is 
strictly aquatic and breathes by means of 
gills on the modified abdominal or hinder 
appendages. 
This isopod will often be taken in 
ponds and streams, crawling about among 
the stones or on the plants, for it cannot 
swim. It is quite prolific, and repro- 
duces rapidly in spite of pronounced can- 
nibalistic habits. The eggs, which may 
number from fifty to sixty, are carried 
by the female in a brood-pouch during 
incubation, and the young therein for 
some time after hatching. 
The aquarian is apt to look upon 
Asellus with suspicion, but there need be 
little hesitation in introducing it into an 
aquarium if the fish have passed the 
stage of fry. It has been accused of 
devouring spawn, which is quite pos- 
sible, but inasmuch as it crawls—it can- 
not swim—any depredation among very 
young fish would be by accident rather 
than by design. However, to be on the 
safe side of the question, don’t place it 
in a tank with fry. Normally it feeds 
upon soft plants, living and dead, and for 
this reason it makes a useful scavenger 
in the aquarium, aside from its interest- 
ing habits. Of course, if one desires to 
investigate its life history it should be 
placed alone in a small, properly equipped 
Asellus aquaticus 
observation tank. ‘The Asel is regarded 
as a savory morsel by fishes large enough 
to devour it, hence 1f kept with other than 
the smaller species its life in the aquarium 
is apt to be brief. 
ae 
A spectator at the Philadelphia exhibi- 
tion, who remarked that he was not aware 
that such peculiar fishes existed, reminds 
one of the comment of the farmer on his 
first visit to a zoological garden. He 
plodded from house to house, his bewil- 
derment increasing, until he stopped in 
amazement before the giraffe and ejacu- 
lated: “Oh, pshaw! There ain’t no such 
animal.” 
NCIS dem 
Below is given a copy of an inscription 
that adorned a board fence in Kent: 
“Notis—If any man’s 
cows get into these here oats, his or her 
tail will be cut off as the case may be.”— 
The Country Gentleman. 
or woman’s 
