Observations on Living Fishes brought from Tropical East Africa, 25 
ditions of the Cape seas. The reason, however, became apparent at a later 
date. Up to the 25th of April the four Carnax continued active and fed 
well, but on the 26th, after a strong N.W. wind, the temperature of the 
water rather suddenly fell to 13° C, and on the 26th three of the fish were 
found dead in the tank, though apparently quite as usual the day before. 
The dead fish were carefully examined, and beyond the fact that the skin was 
covered with an abnormal secretion of mucus all the tissues seemed normal. 
On the 27th, when the temperature had fallen to 12-5° C, the remaining 
Carnax was found dead under similar conditions. 
On the same date the Lutianus appeared to be very slow in its move- 
ments and it was transferred to another and smaller tank, but soon died. 
The most interesting and striking of the fishes was the Batistes. It is a 
gaudily-coloured fish, with body of a salmon-pink colour ; three bright blue 
bands pass from the eye to the base of the pectoral, a yellow stripe from the 
angle of the mouth, and conspicuous white bands in an oblique direction 
over the body above the anal fin. The fish had the peculiar habit of retiring 
at sundown to a particular nook between two rocks, where it lay down on 
one side and apparently fell asleep, with fins extended and perfectly motion- 
less. If disturbed at night it was aroused with difficulty and usually turned 
over on the other side and went to sleep again. In the morning it was early 
awake and swimming about, feeding as actively as before. It was specially 
fond of crabs. On the onset of the cold weather the fish was found 
apparently asleep in its corner during parts of the day, and finally, during 
the whole day through. When aroused it was fairly active and took crabs 
readily enough. This fish, however, and the Holocentrum died shortly after 
the Carnax. 
The Rock-cods did not seem to be affected to the same extent. They 
lived for about a month longer. One was killed by leaping out of the tank 
and the other died some days afterwards. 
There seems little doubt but that the fish, though otherwise well 
adapted to live in the colder waters, are unable to stand the low temperature 
of the winter season or perhaps the sudden change of temperature. 
It is true that we are here dealing with fish in the artificial surroundings 
of an aquarium, and this must not be lost sight of in drawing conclusious 
from this experiment. 
Another aspect of the distribution of marine animals on the South 
African coast is connected with the variation of the strength of the two great 
conflicting currents which meet in this region, and this, again, is connected 
with the relative force of the winds which primarily cause the currents. 
The strong southerly winds of the East Coast have a tendency to check the 
force of the Mozambique current which flows southward along the East 
Coast. The absence or diminution of these winds will therefore tend to 
accelerate the flow of the current of warm water, which will, in that case, 
