Dec. 4, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
The sculpins and sea-robins demand attention and they 
get it. The long pectoral fins which seem fitted for flying 
in the air and the "fingers" used for crawling over the bot- 
tom cause the least curious observer to ha't and look at 
them, while the sea-raven with its ornamental appendages 
always ' hallenges attention, if only by its brilliant colors. 
Passing the young blupfish, or "snappers," the spot, or 
Lafayette, the banded codling, sticklebacks, hake and other 
species wnich are more or less interesting, we come to the 
' boxfish, which are built in some ways like ihe trunkflsh, but 
are round and have spines sticking out all over them. They 
can only move iheir tins, their mouths are longitudinal slits 
which setm to have bony lips that are rigid; but the boxfish 
is ornamented with many dark stripes which seem to be put 
on to make it conspicuous while the spines would make it 
an undesirable mouthful to most fishes. 
The swellfi=h, or puffer, which we catch in the salt-waters 
about New York, is familiar to the boys who go down to the 
fishing banks. They catch one, tickle its belly with a knife 
or an oyster shell, and the fish inflates itself into a ball, when 
the boy, without fear of the Cruelty Society, jumps on the 
fishy balloon "just to hear it pop." In the Aquaiium the 
boy may look at the puffer, but must content himself with 
what he thinks he would l.ke to do. 
. There are filefi^h, funny little pufl:ers, and dozens of other 
things to be seen in the Aquarium, which would take a week 
to tell about. The remora, which has a sucker on top of its 
head by which it attaches it elf to a dogfish or shark, and so 
catches its food without the exertion of travel, has actually 
learned to move and seize food when it is offered. Young 
whitt fish have learned to live upon minnows, and this dis- 
covery has brought to light the fact that men in Canandaigua 
Lake, N Y , nave been taking a species of whitefish out of 
season on set lines, using minnows for bait. 
The bearded codling will attract the attention of the cas- 
ual visitor by its prominent row of white spots and the long, 
streaming rays from its pectoral fins, but people often laugh 
aloud when they see the funny little puffers, the adults hav- 
ing been previously described; but in one gallery tank are 
some young specimens about 3in. long, and they are com- 
ical. 
Fishing for the Aquarium in the waters about New York 
has shown the unexpected presence of Southern species ip 
Northern waters, for the Aquarium fishers use finer mesheu 
nets than the market fishermen and fish in shallows, among 
weeds and other places where the seeker after edible species 
does not haul his nets. A couple of months ago, while 
fishing near Sandy Hook, a young barracuta was taken and 
it was all of 1,000 miles from its home. There are several 
species of this family on our Atlantic coast, none of them 
abundant north of Florida except SpJiynena hovealis, which 
is often abundant in North Carolina waters and has been 
taken further north, even as far as Wood's Hole, Mass., but 
only young specimens, which seems strange. Some barra- 
cuta, or barracuda, are taken in the West Ind'es 8ft. long 
and weighing 40lbs., for it is a long, slim fish that can eat a 
man as well, or better than a shark, and is as much 
dreaded ; yet it is said by Prof. Jordan to be the best food 
fish on the coasts which it inhabits. In shape it resembles 
the pike. Dr. Bean's specimen is about Sin. long and looks 
as wicked as so small a specimen can. 
The filttishes, which are common in tropical and sub- 
tropical seas, and breed somewhere in mid-ocean, have been 
taken near New York by Dr. Bean, but only young speci- 
mens. These queer, excessively compressed fishes have a 
dorsal spine which is rough and gives the name to the file- 
fish, although it; is also called foolfish. Sometimes they are 
of an orange color and at others they are tawny, but will 
^ always claim attention. Their strong jaws can crush most 
mollusks and they even damage beds of pearl oyst.ers. 
It is of interest to see the fiah fed, but as this is done after 
the visitors leave the building, one has to have permission to 
remain. This has never been denied me, nor do I think it 
would be denied to any one who manifested interest enough 
to ask for it. Watch the pike and the pickerel. There are 
some minnows in their tank, but they know their danger. 
They huddle in the corners, where a pike doesn't care to 
risk bruising his nose to get them, yet I have seen them 
qnietly nose them out and then give chase. But the unseen 
attendant has dropped in some new ones, and they dodge for 
the bottom, and if not seized at the first rush the pike will 
point its game like a bird dog, steadily approach with a slow 
movement and with a blazing eye make the rush which is 
usually the last of the minnow, and for the benefit of anglers 
who believe that a pike always throws out a minnow taken 
tail first, in order to turn it, 1 will say that a visit to the 
Aquarium at feeding time will prove their theory incorreot, 
for there they will see the pike at close, and at better ad- 
vantage thaij they ever saw it feed before, and wDl find that, 
heads or tails, it's all the same to the pike or pickerel. 
Watch those fresh-water gars take a killyfish. The gars 
are among the few ganoids wliich somehow escaped destruc- 
tion when the rest were made into fossils, and they are an- 
achronisms which really ought to have been abolished with 
the rest centuries ago. They are about 3ft. long, and are 
built like a torpedo boat, being round-bodied and about Sin. 
in diameter. When they get it into their antediluvian minds 
that a minnow is in sight and is needed in their internal 
economy, they don't rush with indecent haste after food. 
The gar goes quietly about it Its long, nariow snout is run 
about 4in. past tbe unsuspecting minnow, jast as a bit of 
eelgrass might drift by it, ttiere is a quick side motion of the 
head, a snap of the long jaws, and the minnow lies -across 
the jaws in the embrace of sharp teeth, which leave all hope 
behind. The ear is in no hurry, it never was, and it awaits 
its time; a few moves forward as it loosens its hold, and the 
minnow still lies crosswise, but is getting feeble; then the 
prey is somehow slewed about lengthwise and swallowed, 
head or tail, as in the case of the pike. A peaceful expres- 
sion comes into the eye of the gar, and the curtain is rung 
down on the tragedy. 
The trout rash for their food, and sometimes pursue it, 
for they are fed minnows, and it is interesting to note how 
often they miss their mark. The misses are so frequent as 
to cause an angler to recall the many times he has seen a 
trout miss an artificial fly which was being very slowly 
drawn across the water, and to cause him to doubt the ac- 
curacy of the trout's eye when it misses a fair-sized minnow, 
whicij is completely submerged. Then he no longer won- 
ders at the missing of a fly which is on the surface of the 
water and seen against the sky or the bushes, often when 
the ripple distorts its shape, and perhaps its place. 
All the inhabitants of a great aquarium cannot eat min- 
nows, and so a variety of food must be prepared, and in dif- 
erent shapes to suit not only different tastes, but diflerent 
sized mouths; and great judgment must be exercised in the 
use of food which is not alive, in order not to put in more 
than the inhabitants of a tank can eat at the time, unless 
there are crabs or other scavengers in it; but there are fishes 
which will eat crabs as.fast as they are put in ; and so, as T have 
said, there is more knowledge required to run an aquarium 
than to manage any other collection of animal life, and there 
is yet much to be learned by the best aquarium men. 
There are all kinds of quacks, and there are aquarium 
quacks, men who have secrets for keeping fish alive. One 
came to the old Aquarium on Broadway, and wanted to sell 
some secret. Mr. Coup asked my opinion, and I said: "Put 
him in a tank, and keep his head under water, put in some 
of his own stuff and see how long he will live." He failed 
to make a sale, and I never had any idea what these fellows 
had to sell, if anythins, and let it go. Recently I have seen 
it stated that "Dr. Sedlitzky, of Salzburg, recommends the 
addition of four drops of a solution of one gram of saliaylic 
acid in 300 grams of water to every 100 grams of water in 
the aquarium, and says this will keep the fish healthy with- 
out changing the water." I have used salicylic acid in ex- 
periments in killing fungus, but do not know saliaylic acid, 
which may be a misprint. 
There is a most charming retreat for a student to spend an 
hour, in a room which is not open to the general public, 
which would rush through it with hardly a glance at the 
jars of water and weeds. To me this long room is the moat 
interesting part of the Aquarium. Here are the "balanced" 
tanks; glass aquaria about 14iu. in diameter and perhaps as 
high, in which the water is never changed, year in or out, 
the loss by evaporation being all that is added. The princi- 
ple is that plants absorb carbonic acid gas and throw off 
oxygen, wliile fish reverse this process, and so it is an even 
trade by means of which both live, if the proper proportions 
of each kind of life balance; if not, one dies. An ordinary 
farm pond which has neither inlet nor outlet presents the 
same conditions, and the balance tank is merely one of na- 
ture's methods on a smaller scale, but trout and some other 
SEA HOKSES. 
fishes are not adapted to such a life; they require more oxy- 
gen and even liave to call in the refrigerating apparatus, 
which was put in last summer, and has a capacity of 10 
tons of ice daily. 
The climbing perch might be an interesting fish if it would 
only climb. The single specimen in the Aquaiium is a quiet 
fellow, about 7in long, and is kept in one of the jars where 
the oxygen it gets conies from plant life, and not from the 
passage of water through air. As I see it, there is little to 
interest one in the fish, unless he knows and believes the 
stories told of it. It has a single dorsal fin with both hard 
and soft rays, the former seem to predominate, and the same 
may be said of the anal fin. The color is dark, and the fish 
seems to enj jy months of rest after its travels. I have read 
that this fish, whose climbing propensities, and whose Greek 
front name of Anabas and Latin specific one of scandeus, 
both refer to climbmg, has a sort of water reservoir in plates 
or pockets above its gills, to keep the latter moist when on a 
journey. Looking into "Johnson's Cyclopedia," I read: 
"Species are found in southeastern Asia and Africa. One, 
the Anabas scandeus, found in India, etc., is especially re- 
markable for a limited power of climbing. Unlike the eel, 
which passes over only moist ground, Anabas takes its jour- 
ney over hard, dry and dusty loads, and frequently up steep 
ascents heated with the burning beams of the noonday sun, 
and does not seem to feel any serious inconvenience from 
these. It is even asserted by some writers that this fish is 
able to climb a tree. " 
I have seen pictures of it climbing a tree by means of its 
pectoral fins and coarse scales, and have wondered what he 
did it for, if he did it. Please remember that I don't vouch 
for any part of this yarn. I've seen the fish ; only this and 
nothing more. Last week I told how I let my imagination 
loose to an admiring crowd at Blackford's, and told how the 
angler fish ate young goats and sucked cows, while a friend 
told how they climbed" trees. We thought that Munchausen, 
Ananias & Co. were not iu our class, but some fellow has 
said: "Truth is stranger than fiction," and there is such a 
weight of evidence for all that is claimed for this strange 
fish that I can only say : "I'd like to see him do it." 
I hereby issue this challenge to Dr. Bean: Next summer, 
when the asphalt walks are hot and the grass in Battery 
Park is dusty, I will match an adult eel against your climb- 
ing perch for distance in a given time. The second match 
to be a B'.lt Line car horse against the perch in tree-climb- 
ing; and a third that this vaunted tramp from India cannot 
sit in the sun on a park bench as long as an unknown tramp 
which I wUl produce. Best two out of three to win, and 
the loser to pay for a dinner at Del's. This is a friendly 
challenge to the Doctor, purely in the interest of science, 
and if it comes off 1 sincerely liope that I will lose, for we 
have to pay for our educuiion and I will be glad to contrib- 
ute to mine, which in this case means to the education of 
the whole world of scienci . 
Let us seek comrade Spencer and get him to show Ms 
treasures and talk of them. He loves to do both if he knows 
that the visitor is really interested in his hobby, i)ut when he 
finds one who is not only interested, but has some knowledge 
of it, he is delighted. 1 have only to hint that a view of his 
pet department would be a favor, and the veteran leads the 
way with the step of a boy. We reach the fresh-water tanks 
first, few in number because not feo rich in forms of life. 
The plants are thoFe which grow with submerged leaves, 
except the duck-meat, which forms a mat of its "tiny leaves 
on the surface and sends its roots a fraction of an inch be- 
low; they are the hornwort, cabomba, sagitaria and myria- 
ophyllum. Here we find the European loach, a bearded, 
spotted, sluggish bottom fish, ( ur pearl-sided sunfish, and 
that pretty-banded sunfish which is so small that anglers sel- 
dom see it. The interesting sticklebacks are only represent- 
ed by the five-spined species, the nest-building two-spined 
fellow being absent. 
All the time we spend at the few fresh-water tanks Spen- 
cer looks bored. They are interesting to a moderate degree, 
but as we leave thera his eye brightens, he begins to talk, 
and we listen. "Now here is a colony of Narthern coral from 
the coast of New Jersey. It came three years ago last June, 
and many of the polyps are still living, as you can see. The 
coral has not grown any, and some of the builders may have 
died and others been bred; we can't be certain about that. 
This tank contains four species of sea anemones. That 
bright red one which is closed up is as beautiful as a jack 
rose when it is opened, and that more modestly colored one 
in ecru is as beautiful as a Quaker maiden in drab. -Just 
note the two species of barnacles near the anemones. This 
common ivory barnacle opens its shell and grasps with its 
plume-like fingers as if it were beckoning food to come on, 
and it is so sensitive that we can't feed it. At the least dis- 
turbance of the water they draw in and the food passes by. 
No so with this other species, which grows larger and 
attaches itself to turtles, whales, and other things, as well aa 
ships; this species puts out its curious landing-net and slowly 
revolves it until something strikes it. Tntre! See it take 
in that tiny bit of clam which I dropped; that's the way it 
feeds." 
"That seems to be a singular rock that the barnacles are 
fast to." 
"Well, they were on a piece of wood with the bark on. I 
split oft the bark, shaved it down as close as I dared, put it 
on a flat stone and then poured a little cement around them, 
about the thickness of half a dozen sheets of letter paper; 
and there they are, happy as ever, and if the bark decays 
the cement will be a bond of union. They have lived in that 
way for a year and a half." 
Then we came to interesting colonies of hydroids, asoidi- 
ans or sea squirti; shrimps which flit through the water in a 
ghostly manner with their semi-transparent bodies only 
faintly outlined, while they seek particles of food fish which 
have escaped from the immovable animals in the same tank. 
There are no currents to bring food to the anemones, barna- 
cles, ascidians and other forms of life which are incapable of 
moving, and under these artificial conditions such scavengers 
are necessary or the water would become foul. Mr. Spencer 
might feed ever so carefully, and it might miss the rooted 
animal or it might be rejected if it did not happen to be 
hungry. The food in this case is too fine to recover with 
wooden nippers, and siphons are not used, but the shrimps, 
snails and the small hermit crabs which have not outgrown 
the small snail shells, take care that nothing is left to foul 
the water, and here comes in a knowledge that cannot be 
imparted. If the scavengers are overfed the water will get 
foul, for they are not working for the Park Board, Dr. Bean 
nor Mr. Spencer. They knock off work when tney have 
had a big dinner, just as I do on Thanksgiving Day, but 
with this difference ; their world is smaller, and if they do 
not devour all food in sight theh world becomes foul and 
will not support them, while if I don't work I can go to the 
markets and look at the canvasbacks, venison steaks, grouse 
and 'possums without a threat from Dame Nature that if I 
do not devour all these things they will breed a pestilence 
which will destroy me and my kind, as will be done in that 
miniature world which we set up and call a "balanced 
aquarium." It is a delicate thing to run, not only to adjust 
the quantity of plant life to animal life, but to select the 
kinds of animals which will live together. 
The younger spider crabs have a way of disguising them- 
selves, which they abandon as they grow older, and this 
has given them the name of "decorator crab." They pluck 
the different seaweeds and by means of saliva they fasten 
the plants upon their backs to deceive the skates, dogfish 
and other enemies, and they remind one of Macduff's host 
bearing Birnam wood in the advance upon Dunsinane. 
Tne plant which is relied upon to give aeration in the salt- 
water jars is the sea-lettuce {Ulva latissima), but the active 
inhabitants of the tanks will not allow it to root below and 
so it floats on top, giving shade as well as oxygen, and the 
crabs ulso tear up 'the red rockweeds, but cannot destroy 
their anchorage and they grow along in the old place. 
There are the tube worms, called serpula, which make 
twisted calcareous tubes, and the sabella, whose retreats are 
leathery, and both send out their feathery heads and dodge 
back quickly if alarmed. The serpula tubes are easily 
broken and a colony would often be scattered but for the 
fact that a colony of bryozoa usually settles on it and binds 
the twisted tubes into a solid mass. There are tons of these 
masses in Great South Bsiy, Long Island, where they are 
known as "cinder beds," and are famous fishing grounds. 
The bryozoa coat many objects with a thin film of beauti- 
ful lime work finer than frost patterns and then build layer 
on layer, as the coral polyps do. Then along comes one of 
the boring worms, species unknown to me, which drills 
straight holes through the mass. JVlr. Spencer has fine 
specimens of this work- 
There are little horsefeet or horseshoe crabs, which were 
hatched in the Aquarium and are now two years old, but 
not as large as a half-dollar, and there is a complete series of 
their cast shells, from the size of almost nothing up to the 
last moult. 
The star exhibit in the balanced tanks is the ship worm 
[Teredo namlis), A specimen of its work is shown in a 
piece of a pile which was only two years in water, and is so 
eaten tnat "honeycombed" will fairly express it. The holes 
are long, about ttie diameter of a lead pencil, and are lined 
with shell. But the living animal, encased in a bit of wood, 
throws out two white siphons, the longest about lin. lono-, 
and that is its connection with the outer world. Mr. Spencer 
had two of these and could not learn what they were. 
Scientists saw them and drawings of the wood and the 
siphons were sent to mjiny persons, but no one could name 
the animal. Then Mr. Spencer determined to find out, and 
he carefully split the wood away from one specimen, and 
behold I there was a teredo 9in, long, and it lived three days 
