156 TlMEHRI. 



were skinned, but the baiara having been caught early 

 was almost too soft for the purpose. 



Earlier in the evening, a large paruaruima (Phratto- 

 cephalns hemiliopterus), or so-called fresh-water gil- 

 backer, was caught on a short line, but, as it was pulled 

 out of the water, a perai leaped at its tail and denuded it of 

 half of its caudal fin. The paruaruimais noted amongall the 

 fishes of Guiana for the extraordinarily loud noises which 

 it makes when it is drawn out of the water — loud bellow- 

 ings they may be termed, rather than gruntings ; and 

 certainly the specimen which we caught did not belie its 

 reputation. It was placed in a small shallow pond to be 

 kept alive for skinning till the morning, and during the 

 night it gave loud voice to its discomfort. Unaccustomed 

 as I was to the noise, its loudness was to me, at first, a 

 constant surprise. 



This fish, of which kind only one species is known, is 

 of a very striking form and colour. The body is large, 

 but the head is disproportionately large, and is covered 

 by a thick helmet which meets a smaller dorsal plate 

 in front of the dorsal fin. The cavity of the mouth, 

 the stomach and the air-bladder are very capacious. The 

 upper part of the body is olive-brown, the shields being 

 paler and covered with black depressions; the sides are 

 bright yellow, passing into a whitish-yellow below; 

 while the tail is rich orange, with intensely red inter- 

 spinous streaks, and the other fins more or less tipped 

 with reddish-yellow. 



Our camp had been made on one of the islets of a large 

 greenstone dyke, overlooking the various sandbanks in 

 the curve of the river. On one of these banks the men 

 had taken up their station for fishing — the long lines 



