54 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



On our arrival on board we found that a seining-party 

 which had been despatched early in the afternoon had 

 succeeded in procuring a haul of two species of fish. A seal 

 had been also taken in the net, but managed to effect its 

 escape. One of the kinds of fish, a beautiful creature about a 

 foot long, presenting a vague resemblance to an exaggerated 

 smelt, with a broad silver stripe along each side, was the 

 "peje rey" {Atheriniclithys Argentinensis), long known as an 

 inhabitant of the Plate, and justly esteemed for its delicacy of 

 flavour, to which it appears to owe its Spanish name of " king 

 fish."* Falkner, a Jesuit missionary in South America in 

 the eighteenth century, thus describes it in his interesting 

 account of Patagonia, "and the adjoining parts of South 

 America :" — "The pequareys, or king's fish (so called by the 

 Spaniards), are a kind of smelt or sparling ; in colour, shape, 

 and taste, resembling ours, except that the head is very large, 

 and the mouth very wide. Their size is about that of a 

 mackerel. They never frequent salt water ; but are in great 

 quantities in the Eiver of Plata. When the Parana increases, 

 in the month of July, they go up the river in vast shoals, a 

 little above Santa Fe, to leave their spawn in the lesser rivers 

 which enter the Parana. The fishermen catch them with 

 hooks, in great quantities, cut them open, and dry them, and 

 sell them to the neighbouring cities. They are of an excellent 

 taste, and their flesh is very white, without any fat ; when 

 fresh their flesh is considered as a great dainty. They must 

 be dried without salt, as it would immediately consume them ; 

 and if they get any wet or moisture, where they are hung out 

 to dry, they will corrupt." 



A remarkable oval semi-transparent body about the size 



* An allied species {A. microlepidotus), common at the mouths of rivers in 

 Chili, bears the same popular cognomen. 



