488 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



Edited by the Director of the Zoological Park. 

 Elwin R. Sanborn, Asst. Editor. 



Published Quarterly at the Office of the Society, 

 11 Wall Street, New York City. 



Single Numbers, 15 Cents; Yearly, 50 Cents. 



Mailed free to members. 



Copyright, 1909, by the New York Zoological Society. 



No. 33 



APRIL, 1909 



©ffirrra nf tljr Sarirtg. 



f.h I'MiVlll : 



Henry Fairfield Osborn. 



lExetutiue Ctommrttrc 



Madison Grant, Chairman, 



John S. Barnes, Samuel Thorne, 



Percy R. Pyne, William White Niles, 



Levi -P. Morton, Wm. Pierson Hamilton, 



Henry Fairfield Osborn, Ex-Officio. 



(Scnrrnl (©fluem : 



Secretary, Madison Grant, 11 Wall Street. 



Treasurer, Percy R. Pyne, 30 Pine Street. 



Director, William t. Hornaday, Sc.D., Zoological Park. 



Director of the Aquarium, Charles H. Townsend, Battery Park. 



ffioaru of illamuii m : 

 Ex-Officio, 

 The Mayor of the City of New York, .... Hon. George B. McClellan. 

 The President of the Dep'tof Parks, .... Hon. Henry Smith. 



ffllaao of 1910. (Sloan of 1911. ffllaao of 1912. 



F. Augustus Schermerhorn Henry F. Osborn, Levi P. Morton, 

 Percy R. Pyne, William C. Church, Andrew Carnegie, 

 George B. Grinneil, Liapeuaxd Stewart, John L. Cadwalader, 

 Jacob H. Schiff, H. Casimir De Rham, John S. Barnes, 

 Edward J. Berwind, Hugh D. Auchincloss, Madison Grant, 

 George C. Clark, Charles F. Dieterieh, William White Niles, 

 Cleveland H. Dodge, James J. Hill, Samuel Thorne, 



C. Ledyard Blair, George F. Baker, Henry A. C. Taylor, 



Cornelius Vanderbilt, Grant B. Schley, Hugh J. Chisholm, 



Nelson Robinson, Payne Whitney, Frank K. Sturgis, 



Frederick G. Bourne, James W. Barney, George J. Gould, 



W. Austin Wadsworth Wm.PiersonHamilton Ogden Mills 



CiDtfirrrH nf thr Zoological Park : 



JW. T. Hornaday, Sc.D., Director 



H. R. Mitchell Chief Clerk and Disbursing Officer 



Raymond L. Ditmars Curator of Reptiles 



C. William Beebe Curator of Birds 



H. W. Merkel Chief Forester and Constructor 



G. M. Beerbower Civil Engineer 



Elwin R. Sanborn Photographer and Assistant Editor 



Harlow Brooks, M.D Pathologist 



W. Reid Blair, D.V.S Veterinarian 



W. I. Mitchell Office Assistant 



Ferdinand Kaegebehn Librarian 



(Offirrra of tire Anuurtum: 



Charles H. Townsend, Director 



L. B. Spencer Fresh Water Collections 



W. I. DeNyse Marine Collections 



E. R. Sampson Disbursing Officer 



WATER-THROWING HABIT OF FISHES 

 IN THE NEW YORK AQUARIUM. 



In a recent publication of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, Dr. Theodore Gill presents a history 

 of the Archer Fish, (Toxotes jaculator), and 

 its feats in shooting drops of water at small 

 insects. This peculiar habit was recorded in 

 1764, but appears to have lacked verification 

 until 1002, when specimens were kept in aquaria 

 by Zolotnitsky, a Russian ichthyologist. 



Ordinarily these captive fishes were able to 

 project drops of water from ten to twenty 

 inches, but sometimes as much as forty inches. 



They could shoot drop after drop at an insect 

 lodged on the vegetation close to the water, until 

 it was drenched and fell within their reach. 

 The old fishes are described as much more suc- 

 cessful in their aim than the younger ones, but 

 the latter sometimes shot flies with such force 

 that they fell outside of the aquarium. Accord- 

 ing to Zolotnitsky 's account the fishes shot the 

 drops without actually protruding the mouth 

 above the surface. 



The water-throwing habit may be more com- 

 mon among fishes than has generally been sup- 

 posed. Certain fishes living in the New York 

 Aquarium have the habit of coming to the sur- 

 face and squirting water upon the hands of the 

 attendants working about the tanks, and I have 

 frequently observed it myself. The species in 

 which the habit is most confirmed is the Trunk 

 Fish, (Ostracion triqueter). 



When the large exhibition tanks are ap- 

 proached from the service passage, into which 

 their tops open, these fishes frequently come to 

 the surface, and projecting their mouths just 

 above, proceed collectively and individually to 

 squirt water into the air in considerable quan- 

 tities. About half a teaspoonful at a shot is 

 the amount thrown upward. The fishes are 

 quite tame, and readily nibble at ones fingers. 

 This habit is also frequently practiced by two 

 other small-mouthed fishes with restricted gill 

 openings ; the Trigger Fish, (Batistes caroli- 

 nensis), and the Spiny Boxfish, (Chilomycterus 

 schoepfi), but is more pronounced in the former. 



A few months ago when gas lights were 

 placed over the tanks within eight inches of the 

 water, the attendants reported to me that the 

 trunk fishes and the trigger fishes were squirting 

 water at the lights when first turned on and 

 sometimes put them out. I have not observed 

 this myself — doubtless because I did not give 

 instructions to be called when the lights were 

 lit — but the men have undoubtedly seen the 

 fishes do it many times. The trigger fish 

 squirts water forcibly enough to throw it quite 

 out of the tank. 



All of these fishes are full of curiosity and 

 seem to be ready to come to the surface to inves- 

 tigate any movement taking place about the 

 open tops of the tanks. The putting out of the 

 lights by the trigger fishes is doubtless acci- 

 dental, as they squirt water quite as readily 

 when the tanks are not illuminated and ap- 

 parently do it merely in play. 



