736 ZOOLOGICAL 
AS HE MIGHT LOOK IN CIVILIZED DRESS. 
Photo by R. Sutcliffe. 
storm or plague. Perhaps the earliest known 
was the fish-headed god Oannes, or Hea, of the 
ancient Chaldeans, but the Greeks and Romans 
and various other peoples on down through the 
Middle Ages believed in tritons, nereids, mer- 
maids, sea-satyrs, etc. Even the early natural 
history of Aldrovanus, Gesner and others was 
not free from such suppositious animals which 
were figured in some of these works. 
Africa, the land of so many mysteries, has 
yielded up the original of another fabulous mon- 
ster. Anyone familiar with the Arabian Nights 
will easily recognize from our illustrations “The 
Old Man of the Sea.” It might also be the 
original of the “Sea Bishop” of Gesner, Sluper 
and others, but from the fact that this aquatic 
member of the clergy was “seen off the coast of 
Poland” and there is no mention of a South 
African marine diocese. 
At any rate the fish head here shown is very 
interesting. The photographs were made at the 
Aquarium from the dried head which was 
brought from Capetown, South Africa, by the 
owner, Mr. Robert A. Hunt. Except for the 
evident additions made by the photographer, the 
specimen was not manipulated in any way. The 
ragged outline at the back of the head shows 
where it was severed from the body. The lines 
on the lower part of the face are natural and 
are the outlines of the maxillary and other bones 
of the jaws. The proboscis has shrunk some- 
SOCIETY 
BULLETIN. 
what in drying. In life the resemblance to the 
human face was even more striking. 
We are indebted to Mr. Hunt for the data 
and for the pleasure of examining the dried 
head, and some original snap shots taken just 
after the head was severed from the body. 
Literature is not at hand for the identifica- 
tion of the species, but it appears to belong to 
the family Sparidae, and if this is the case it 
would be related to our sheepshead. 
The conical front teeth are shown in the cut. 
The Jateral teeth are very strong and molar-like, 
evidently for the purpose of crushing shells and, 
like the famous king of the Cannibal Islands, 
“he has two rows in his lower jaw.” R. C. O. 
GREEN MORAY. 
LARGE green moray died on December 
A 30, after living in the Aquarium seven years 
and six months. When brought from Ber- 
muda by Director Townsend, June 30, 1903, this 
specimen measured four feet in length. At the 
time of its death it was six feet long. Mr. De 
Nyse informs me that during the last two years 
of its captivity it would take no food voluntarily. 
It was thus necessary to force food. down its 
throat. The food thus administered would be 
retained for a while until partially digested, 
when the remnants would be regurgitated, but 
no meal was ever disposed of fully or permanent- 
ly for more than two years. R. C. O. 
AQUARIUM NOTES. 
Fish-Hatchery.—During 1910, the United 
States Bureau of Fisheries presented us with the 
following spawn for our model hatchery: white- 
fish 1,500,000; Atlantic salmon 5,000; white 
perch 1,500,000; shad 800,000. Our collector 
took 750,000 yellow perch and the Tuxedo Club 
of New York presented us with 7,000 steelhead 
trout spawn. These eggs were successfully 
hatched, with the exception of the white perch 
eggs which arrived in poor condition, in our 
troughs and hatchery jars, making an interest- 
ing and instructive exhibit from the first of the 
year till the middle of June. The fry are re- 
turned to the Government authorities to be lib- 
erated in various waters or are disposed of to 
clubs, ete. 
The disposition of the fry was as follows: 
quinnat salmon fry to the number of 3,000, were 
liberated in Lake Roliff, Jenson Kill, New York, 
on April 21, from the hatching of the previous 
year and sixty-five silver salmon were given to 
Mr. Mabie in exchange; on April 27, 20,000 yel- 
low perch were liberated in the 77th Street lake 
