4o6 SEEBANID2E, 



was told that occasionally much larger specimens were caught there ; but as an Arab's 

 idea of measurement is somewhat vague, too much reliance cannot be placed on what 

 he says. The other was a splendid fish, obtained a few miles up the Sobat River by 

 Captain Bainbridge, who kindly supplied me with the following measurements : length, 

 6 ft. 1 in. ; girth, 4 ft. 7 in. ; and 266f lbs. in weight. The only other place where I 

 obtained information as to large specimens being obtained was in the Fayum, on the 

 shores of the large lake known as the Birket Karun. 



" In winter far more fish are caught in the Birket Karun than in summer, owing, 

 so the fishermen say, to the fact that in winter the fish come nearer the surface or into 

 the shallow water ; while in the summer they keep to the cooler deep water (the lake 

 being very deep in places), which cannot be worked with nets." 



Capt. S. Flower has made the following observations * on the Lates, or "Ishr" 

 as it is called at Cairo : — 



"In the last months of 1901 and earlier part of 1902, when experiments were being 

 made in keeping the Nile fish in captivity, this species appeared to be the most 

 difficult of all to manage. Large specimens, caught and put in the Aquarium tanks, 

 although they would feed, would only live a few days or weeks ; but when in the 

 early autumn of 1902 the young Lates of the year appeared in the Selamlik Canal 

 of the Zoological Gardens several were caught and taken to the Aquarium, where 

 some flourished and grew rapidly in size, while others completely vanished, and there 

 is little doubt they were eaten by their brethren. 



"There are now (5th March, 1904) in the Aquarium in Tank No. 5 one very small 

 Ishr, in No. 7 one medium-sized specimen caught in the Esbekia Lake 12th 

 September 1903, in No. 20 four young individuals, the largest about 10J inches 

 in total length (one at least of these has been in this tank since October 1902), and 

 in Tank No. 24 there is also one small specimen. 



" Their natural food appears to be live fish only, but it is found they w T ill eat freshly 

 dead fish, such as Alestes, thrown into the tanks, seizing them as they sink and 

 swallowing them whole. One of the most noticeable points about the Ishr is its 

 gleaming eyes, which in some lights glow red like dull signal lamps ; another is its 

 power of rapidly changing its colour, and the appearance and disappearance of dark 

 markings all over the sides of the body — further observations are wanted concerning 

 when and how this is carried out. 



" As is well known this species attains to a great size, but it is surprising how large 

 it grows in quite small pieces of w T ater. It occurs in both the Haremlik and Selamlik 

 waters of the Zoological Gardens. On the morning of 3rd February 1904, after 

 a very cold night, a specimen w 7 as found dead in the Lotus Lake which measured 

 in total length 43-g- inches (1-114 metres) and weighed 36*37 lbs. (16*5 kilog.). On the 

 12th September 1903, when the Esbekia Lake was emptied many small and medium- 



* Eep. Zool. Gard. Giza, v. 1904, p. 45. 



