1 882.] Zoology. 139 



near the anus, though which it protrudes its head, from time to 

 time, in search of food. Thus it is not, in any way, either a 

 parasite or a commensal, in the sense attached to these words in 

 natural history — that is to say, it does not live at the expense of 

 the holothurian, either consuming its substmce or taking some of 

 the food that animal has amassed for itself. Hence the earlier 

 naturalists who studied the habits of the fish were mistaken in 

 considering it as an example of parasitism by a vertebrate animal. 

 The fierasfer is merely, as Professor Emery puts it, a lodger, or 



According to Professor Semper, of Wurtzburg, however, there 

 is on the coast of the Philippine islands, a small fish of the genus 

 Enchdwphis, closely allied to fierasfer, which, also living in holo- 

 thurians, feeds on their viscera, and is, therefore, a true parasite. 

 — English Mechanic. 



Habits of the Menopoma. — Having recently collected speci- 

 mens of the common Menopoma ( .!/. 1 1 *kaniensis) for Professor 

 Ward's museum in Rochester, N. Y., I give some of my observa- 



AU my specimens were caught in the Loyalhanna creek, West- 

 moreland Co., Pa. It is well known to those accustomed to fish 

 m the streams of this region, from its troublesome habit of taking 

 bait placed in the water for nobler game. When thus hooked, its 

 vicious biting and squirming, together with the slime which its 

 skin secretes, render it exceedingly disagreeable to handle. It 

 is often hooked in bottom fishing for catfish. Many anglers cut 

 the hook off, rather than extract it, and the amphibian's flat head 

 is often rendered still flatter by a lively application of the sports- 

 man's boot heel. 



In the early summer when the water is clear, Menopomae are 

 often to be seen on the pebbly bottom in considerable numbers. 

 Once when fishing with some friends from off a large rock in the 

 J-oyalhanna creek, we saw quite a shoal of them moving sluggish- 

 ly about among the stones on the bottom. They would quickly 

 take our hooks baited with a piece of meat or a fish head. In one 

 instance two large ones laid hold of the same bait and were 

 promptly landed on the rock. In a few minutes we had a dozen. 

 J-ast August I fished the same spot for them but without success. 

 Acting on the advice of a "native" (which was to drop some 

 bait— dead fish, &c, near certain rocks under which he insisted 

 ^e "alligators" staid) I caught ten large specimens in a single 

 morning, and ten more a few days later. Those taken were of 

 various sizes, measuring from ten to eighteen inches in length. 

 Une taken by a friend was twenty-two inches long. Fishermen 

 hereabouts say they have frequently caught hell-benders two 

 Ie et long. 



They are remarkably tenacious of life. I carried my specimens 



