1910.] AND INVERTEBRATES OF ST. HELENA. 119 



at St. Helena. It is well known to the fishermen of the island 

 under the name of 'bottle-fish.' I obtained only one specimen, 

 which I caught myself when out in an albacore-boat moored in 

 about 90 fathoms off the south-west point of the island. I was 

 fishing with a bottom line with two rather small hooks attached to 

 the sinker ; the hooks were baited with mackerel. Feeling a bite, I 

 hauled up and found the line cut and one of the hooks gone : the 

 men said this was done by a bottle-fish, and when I put the line 

 down again I caught one. When it came to the surface it was 

 almost spherical, the abdomen being distended not with air but 

 with water. As the fish lay in the bottom of the boat it dis- 

 charged the water in gushes from its mouth and gill-apertures 

 until it was completely collapsed, the skin of the abdomen becoming 

 flaccid and showing loose longitudinal folds. 



Giinther (Study of Fishes, 1880, p. 687), after remarking that 

 when a globe-fish is inflated with air its skin is stretched to its 

 utmost extent and the spines protrude and form a defensive 

 armour, proceeds as follows : — " However, it is probable that the 

 spines are a protection not only when the fish is on the surface 

 and able to take in air, but also when it is under water. Some 

 Diodonts at any rate are able to erect the spines about the head 

 by means of cutaneous muscles ; and perhaps all fill their stomach 

 with water instead of air for the same purpose and with the same 

 effect." It is not clear whether this means that some are known to 

 do so with certainty or that it is only a probability in every case. 

 I have shown that it is at least true for Tetrodon cutaneus, and 

 in this species the effect is not to erect spines, for there are none. 

 There is no evidence that this species ever inflates itself with air ; 

 I never heard of it being taken except at the bottom in deep 

 water. 



CRUSTACEA*. 



There is a fishery for Crustaceans at St. Helena, the edible 

 forms being the crayfish, Panulirus guttatus, known as the ' long- 

 legs,' and the Scyllarid Scyllarus lalus, which is called the ' stump.' 

 The latter is caught in traps of elongated cylindrical shape made 

 of strips of bamboo fastened together by iron hoops, each end of 

 the trap being fitted with a reentrant cone open at the apex ; the 

 trap is thus similar in principle to one type of lobster-pot used in 

 Britain, especially on the east coast. Only one boat was engaged 

 in this fishing during my visit, and I went out for a night's 

 fishing in her. The traps, which the fishermen call nets although 

 no net is used in their construction, were put down in about 

 15 fathoms of water off Sugar-loaf Point. They were weighted 

 with iron bars and baited with albacore-heads. Each trap was 

 sunk separately and the line attached to it was buoyed first with 

 a bamboo spar and at the end of the line with an empty cubical 



* Species identified by Dr. W. T. Caiman, F.Z.S. 



