286 MY LIFE [Chap. 



greatly esteemed, the flesh being very fat and rich, quite 

 beyond any of our English fishes. 



The next figure (Plecostomus guacari) is one of the 

 Loricariidse, which are allied to the Siluridae, but characterized 

 by hard bony scales or plates, and dangerous bony spines to 

 the dorsal and pectoral fins. Many are of very strange and 

 repulsive forms, and though eatable are not esteemed. I 

 obtained seven species of these curious fishes. 



The remaining two figures serve to illustrate the family 

 Cichlidae, one of the most abundant and characteristic groups 

 of South American fishes. All are of moderate size, and feed 

 partially or entirely on vegetable substances, especially fruits 

 which grow on the river-banks and when ripe fall into the 

 water. They are caught with fruits as a bait, and the fisher- 

 man gently lashes the water with his rod so as to imitate 

 the sound of falling fruit, thus attracting the fish. Some of 

 these are the most delicious fish in the world, both delicate 

 and fat, to such an extent that the water they are boiled in 

 is always served at table in basins, and is a very delicious 

 broth, quite different to any meat broth and equal to the 

 best. It is more like a very rich chicken broth than any- 

 thing else. I obtained twenty-two species of this family of 

 fishes, the little Pterophyllum scalar is ^ called the butterfly 

 fish, being one of the most fantastic of fresh-water fishes. 

 The other, Cichlosoma severtim, is one of the best for the table. 



I have presented my collection of fish drawings to the 

 British Museum of Natural History, and I am indebted to 

 Mr. C. Tate Regan, who has charge of this department, for 

 giving me the names of the species represented. In a paper 

 read before the Zoological Society in August, 1905, he states 

 that he has named about a hundred species, and that a large 

 portion of the remainder are probably new species, showing 

 how incomplete is our knowledge of the fishes of the Amazon 

 and its tributaries. 



Looking back over my four years* wanderings in the 

 Amazon valley, there seem to me to be three great features 

 which especially impressed me, and which fully equalled or 



