EXPERIMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY OF LIVE FISHES. 
3 
extremities of the forks of the tail are distinctly rounded and not acute, as in the 
aforesaid drawing. In fact, the caudal flu, or tail, in the latter is incorrect in outline, 
and there are still other differences to be observed upon comparing the figure of the 
present paper with the figure given us by Goode, pointing to inaccuracies in the 
latter. Here is where the great value of the camera comes in. In time, with suitable 
subjects taken under the most favorable conditions, pictures of fish (as in the case of 
other animal forms), produced by half-toning processes from faultless photographs, 
will surely supersede in biological literature the often inaccurate figures that now 
illustrate it. This is what we strive to accomplish in our efforts to obtain the best 
possible photographic negatives of fish — live fish in their natural element, with normal 
surroundings. 
On the same day I attempted to photograph the two species of sun-fish then in 
the aquaria. One of these was the common pumpkin-seed ( Eupomotis gibbosus) and 
the other the long-eared sun-fish [Lepomis auritus , plate 3, upper figure). In the 
aquarium at the south end of the grotto there were upward of two dozen specimens of 
the former, while a handsome male of the latter species, with three or four females, 
were living in another tank at the side of the room, where the light was much more 
favorable. By instantaneous exposure I secured two fine negatives of the common 
sun fish. One of these had twenty fish in it, all of which were swimming at the time, 
but the resulting picture shows not the slightest degree of motion in any one of them. 
There were nearly as many specimens on the second negative, here shown in plate 3, 
lower figure, and published for the first time in the Photographic Times , of New York. 
These results exemplify what may be expected from a highly colored fish, though 
rather a dark one, attempted under by no means favorable conditions, and where 
reliance was mainly placed upon tact, patience, and the best material that the market 
afforded. It will be observed that those specimens which were deep down in the water 
took the darkest, while those nearer the surface showed better definition. Nearly all of 
them, however, give the external characters of the species pretty well, and surely are 
far more interesting than many illustrations frequently seen in zoological works. 
In the case of Lepomis auritus the subject selected was the single male fish, and 
for fully two hours, upon an intensely sultry afternoon, I was obliged to wait before 
this beautiful specimen came into the proper place to be photographed. The result, 
however, fully compensated for the delay, and the photograph is an absolutely 
accurate representation of the male long-eared sun fish of our American ichthyfauna. 
About a week after making these experiments very good results were also obtained 
with the striped sea-robin [Prionotus evolans) and with the naked star-gazer (Astro- 
scopes guttatus). The former was taken while resting upon the bottom of the aquarium, 
while the latter was secured in two positions, the one where it had settled down upon 
a piece of fiat stone, and the other an instantaneous exposure, showing the fish in the 
act of hiding itself in the sand, a very interesting habit that it constantly exhibits. 
The reproduction of my photograph of the star-gazer is shown in plate 7, upper figure, 
and it is a very accurate representation of this species as it appears in life. 
This work was not resumed until .July of the following year, when the present 
Commissioner, Hon. George M. Bowers, extended me additional facilities. Mr. Edw. 
S. Schmid had also had a special aquarium manufactured for my use, and I had the 
kind assistance in the experiments of Mr. Leighton G. Harron, the superintendent of 
the Aquaria at Central Statiou in Washington. I made a number of exposures upon 
peedle-gars, black bass, and crappie. With both the former species I failed for not 
