up the Rio Negro. 



135 



specimens that were liable to be eaten by ants, tables 

 for dissecting, while specimens were seen every- 

 where. 



The first haul of the seine here was a most proHfic 

 one, resulting in the capture of thousands of fishes, 

 among which were many new species that were 

 eagerly examined and quickly sketched or painted 

 to the life by the artists. 



Agassiz had now secured about four hundred 

 species of fishes, half of which had been copied in 

 colour by Buckhardt. The specimens as soon as 

 possible were transferred to glass jars, and thus the 

 artist painted them as they poised before his eyes in 

 all the glory of their brilliant colouring. Agassiz 

 found that by this method he was correcting much 

 careless work that had been done by previous inves- 

 tigators, who from studying poor and faded speci- 

 mens had duplicated species many times over. 

 Among the fishes found at Teffe was one (Geo- 

 phagus) which had a most remarkable method of 

 reproduction. In a letter Agassiz saj^s, in referring 

 to it : The eggs pass, I know not how, into the 

 mouth, the bottom of which is lined by them, be- 

 tween the inner appendages of the branchial arches, 

 and especially into a pouch, formed by the upper 

 pharyngeals, which they completely fill. There 

 they are hatched, and the little ones, freed from the 

 egg-case, are developed until they are in a condition 

 to provide for their own existence. I do not yet 

 know how long this continues ; but I have already 

 met with specimens whose young had no longer any 

 vitelline sac, but were still harboured by the pro- 

 genitor." 



