288 
NATURAL HISTORY 
trils are single, afid near the mouth. The eyes are very 
remarkable: each containing two parts or a double pupil, 
which has caused it to be called four eyes. The cavity 
of the eyes differ from other fish: this cavity is not a cy- 
linder, as in other animals, but a part of one only ; on 
each side of the top of the head there is an arched thin 
bone advancing towards the scull; these bones tace each 
other with their concave surfaces; the eye is cylindrical, 
and is fixed in this cavity, but rises above it: the pupil 
is seen above the surface, enclosed in a black iris; as the 
corner is equally luminous in the internal part, the pupil 
is seen double. The gill coverts are smooth and slip- 
py ry; the body upwards is broader than it is thick; but 
it takes a rounded form towards the tail. The sides are 
ornamented with five longitudinal dark brown stripes; 
they run quite to the tail, where the two outmost are 
connected by a transverse stripe, and the three middle- 
most by another. The lateral line is scarcely visible; 
the anus is nearer to the tail than to the head. The dor- 
sal fin is small, and near the tail. All the fins, except 
the ventrals, are covered mostly with small scales; on 
the body the scales are larger. It is viviparous like the 
whale, and produces its young alive. 
This singular fish is found in the rivers of Surinam. 
It multiplies fast, and is esteemed by the inhabitants as 
good food; it grows from six to ten inches in length. 
Of the loach kind of fish, there are eleven different spe- 
cies ; but finding our limits will not permit us to give 
the history of them all, we have inserted the above as 
being the most curious. 
Telescope Fish. (PI. 50.) The whole body of 
this fish, and the groundcolour of the fins, are of a beau- 
ful red, darker towards the back, and lighter towards the 
belly; the membranes of the fins are almost white, and 
the red rays shining through them have a very fine ef- 
fect : the three white points of the tail form to the idea, 
a trident, or a tulip. The head is short but large, the 
mo uua is small, the nostrils single. The pupil of the 
eye is black, the iris yellow; the back is round; the lateral 
line nearer the back than the head. The scales are 
