A NATURALIST’S EXPERIENCES IN BRITISH GUIANA 
British Guiana. I wanted to secure 
as many representatives of Characins, 
the dominant family of fresh-water 
fishes, as possible, and to compare the 
fish fauna of the plateau with that of 
the lowland. The former became an 
incident in the study of the latter 
question. 
From August to December is the 
long dry season in Guiana. In con- 
sequence the upper portions of the 
rivers are lowest in October and No- 
vember, and the fishes concentrate in 
the channels of the streams. We had 
rain during the first week of our stay 
in Guiana, but later were interrupted 
by. rain or high water but once. While 
on the Guiana plateau at Holmia the 
rain of a day and a night raised the 
river many feet. 
I sailed from New York on August 
23, arriving in Georgetown on Sun- 
day, September 6. Every calory of 
energy was consumed with the one 
object of making the trip a successful 
one. Whether we were successful or 
not may be judged by the fact that 
whereas but 116 species had been 
known to occur in British Guiana, 
there are now known to be 360. Of 
those added, 28 genera and 127 species 
were new. 
The steamer left Georgetown at 8 
a. m. and reached Wismar at 4:30. The 
water is muddy to about Berlin and be- 
comes blackish farther up. Wismar is 
about 65 miles above Georgetown in a 
straight line. The Demerara is naviga- 
ble to ocean-going sailing vessels to this 
point and is affected by the tide to the 
first cataract, about 100 miles from 
Georgetown in a straight line. The en- 
tire region from Georgetown to Wismar 
is flat except for occasional sand hills— 
old mud dunes. Creeks enter the Deme- 
rara from both sides about Wismar. 
These creeks are also affected by the 
tide, which gives rise to a peculiar mode 
of fishing. 
Most of the mouths of the creeks are 
provided with partial fences built of poles 
and palm or banana leaves. The center 
is ordinarily left open for the flow of the 
tide. A mat can be placed in the gap 
861 
Photo by C. H. EFigenmann 
ONE OF THE CREW WEAVING A BASKET TO 
SERVE AS A BIRD-CAGE, AT HOLMIA 
The lower lip is pierced. Pins are carried thrust 
through the lip 
which will prevent fishes from coming 
out of the creek (see picture, page 863). 
When the tide is high at night and fishes 
have left the main stream for the creek, 
the mat is put in place. In the morning, 
when the tide is out, the fishes trapped 
are either killed with a cutlass or pot- 
soned. Many of our specimens were ob- 
tained in this way. The creeks are so 
full of brush that all ordinary methods 
of fishing are out of the question. 
Except in a very few favorable places, 
the banks ana shallows of the Demerara 
are so profusely grown with Caladium 
arborescens that the seine could not be 
used. I engaged fishermen to collect for 
me some distance below Wismar and had 
a creek poisoned at Kumaka. From all 
of these places I secured 90 species, six 
of which were not taken elsewhere. 
From Wismar we took the train for 
