35^ NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BERMUDAS. 



the waters of Bermuda, I very unwisely omitted to secure a 

 specimen for examination ; and never having seen the fish 

 out of water, I remain in ignorance of its proper name. 



Whether the Bermuda Blue Fish be identical with the 

 Blue Fish described in Block's " Natural History of 

 Fishes," I am not in a position to decide, though I think 

 there is reason to suppose that it may be the same. 



My friend, Mr. J. Mathew Jones, considers it Plalyglonus 

 cyanosligma ; a fish frequently taken in pots around the 

 shores of the islands, which, in the adult form, is of a 

 brilliant azure blue. 



Miss C. F. Gordon-Cumming, in her interesting book, 

 " At home in Fiji," in writing about the fish there found, 

 states, " There were great, red fish, and purple-green fish, 

 and some of bright gold, with bars or spots of black; but 

 loveliest of all are the shoals of minute fish — some, of the 

 most vivid green, others of a blue that is quite dazzling. 

 Some of the loveliest of these are so tiny that you can keep 

 a dozen in a tumbler; other are about the length of your 

 finger. Only think what a prize they would be if we could 

 convey them safely to the great aquariums of Britain." 



In reference to the foregoing extract from Miss Gordon- 

 Cumming's letters from the Fiji Islands, I may here ob- 

 serve that a tiny fish of a resplendent blue colour above, 

 and brilliant corset of red or orange red, is frequently to be 

 found in the small rock pools of water, left by the tide, on 

 the shores of Bermuda. My first acquaintance with this 

 very beautiful little fish was from four or five specimens 

 brought in by my late friend, G. F. O'Reilly {circe 1850), 

 who was then resident in the Bermudas. They were in an 

 ordinary carafe, or water bottle, less in size than the En- 

 glish minnow, and appeared to be vigorous and full of life. 



