4 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
having used a shutter of a sufficient degree of rapidity in closing. With the crappie, 
however, I obtained three serviceable negatives, two of them being very good. 
On July 17, 1898, another day was given to this work, at which time the same 
methods and materials were used; but by the aid of former experience the results 
were more successful, and excellent negatives of series of three species of fish were 
obtained. Special good fortune attaiued the taking of the large-mouthed black bass 
( Micropterus salmoides), of which several negatives were made (see plate 4, upper 
figure). Yiews of the common sun-fish ( Eupomotis gibbosus) were also obtained, far 
better than those secured during the year previous. These show in great detail the 
external appearances of this well-known fish (plate 2). The cat-fish (plate 8, upper 
figure) proved to be another fair result, but this form is a difficult one to photograph 
on a number of accounts. 
Success was attained in the case of the white perch ( Morone americana ) on 
October 1(3, 189S. On this date there were two of these fish, with several sea trout 
( Cynoscion maculatum ), in the northwest aquarium of the marine grotto. At the time 
the instantaneous exposure was made the finer of the two perch was swimming slowly 
over the bottom in search of food, while a broad ray of light lit up the sand just 
beyond him. Plate 4, lower figure, therefore, not only gives a truthful representation 
of this well-known species as it appears in nature, but the illustration possesses 
peculiar artistic merit besides, a piece of good fortune that sometimes befalls the 
operator. While thus occupied, this fish lowers its anterior dorsal fin and draws up its 
ventral ones, while the pectoral fins stand out perpendicular to the surface of the body. 
A week later (October 23, 1898) a number of very successful exposures were made, 
and negatives were secured of the sea trout ( Cynoscion maculatum ), the tautog or 
black-fish ( Tautoga onitis), and the sea bass ( Gentropristes striatus). 
The sea trout, a young specimen, was in slow movement forward at the time of 
the exposure, and shows the anterior dorsal and ventral fins slightly drooping. The 
mouth is open, and the fish was doing nothing at the time beyond watching its com- 
panions in other parts of the same aquarium. * The light marks on the anterior part 
of the body of this specimen, as well as the emargination of the tail, are due to injury 
and inflammation, resulting from injuries received during transportation from the 
seaboard to the Pish Commission building. (See plate 5, upper figure.) 
The tautog (plate 5, lower figure) is a medium-sized specimen, photographed 
while resting in a vertical position upon the side of a little mound of sand and 
very close to the surface of the glass. It was in one of the west side aquaria in 
the marine grotto, which also contained some ten or twelve more specimens of the 
same species, of various sizes. These fish in confinement exhibit all their natural traits, 
and in their aquarium some will be seen swimming about not far above the bottom; 
others will be lying upon their sides, and still others attempting to secrete themselves 
beneath the rocks, while occasionally exhibiting a peculiar method of combating each 
other. This consists in two fish (males?) coming at each other face to face, opening 
their mouths, and, the one bringing his teeth in contact with those of his antagonist, 
each attempts to force his adversary backward, or if he or the opponent be taken off 
guard for the instant, the more watchful fish of the two will make the attempt to 
bite the other. Sometimes there seems to be a certain playfulness about the grotesque 
maneuvers, while at others an earnest combative nature is quite apparent. Whether 
the opposite sexes ever engage in this procedure I am unable to say at this writing. At 
the best the tautog is a peculiar fish in its habits, and their behavior together often 
