H4 



TlMEHRl. 



attains its greatest development in this region (Neo- 

 tropical). It includes, besides, such widely divergent forms 

 as the common haimara (Macrodon), the hoorie (Ery- 

 thrinus), the krumai (Brycon), the biara (Hydrolycus), 

 the daree (Leporinus), che cartabac (Tetragonopterus), 

 and the pacu (Myletes). The greater number possess the 

 soft and fatty dorsal, or " adipose," fin in front of the tail ; 

 while the swim-bladder is always transversely divided. 

 This family replaces that of the carps (Cyprinidde) in 

 this part of the world ; and it has affinities with the 

 carps, the salmons and the herrings. 



Late in the afternoon, before camping at Cutuabanaboo 

 island, a young cayman, between four and five feet in 

 length, was shot on the bank ; and, as it was to be reserved 

 for skinning till the following morning, it was slung up 

 to the stern of the boat in a comatose condition, from 

 which, however, it partially awoke during the night, 

 and made frantic noises in its attempts to escape. 

 The term "cayman," or "caiman," as used in the 

 colony, applies only to the large species of alligators, the 

 common large black cayman of the Essequebo being the 

 Alligator niger. This species seems to reach an extra- 

 ordinary size, since WATERTON has recorded the fact 

 that he saw one thirty feet in length in that river.* 



Apart from its great size, the species may be distin- 

 guished by its black skin, obscurely spotted with white, 

 and by the possession of two small frontal ridges, evenly 

 dividing the interorbital space. Unfortunately, the term 

 Caiman has been applied technically to include those 

 alligators in which a frontal ridge is altogether absent, 



* Waterton, Essays on Natural History, Second Series, p. 52. 



