THE MADRAS AQUARIUM. 
625 
has long been urgently felt. The main hall and the principal side rooms are 
furnished with electric ceiling fans, an improvement of recent date and one 
greatly appreciated by visitors particularly on crowded days in the hot weather. 
All the fishes exhibited have been obtained in the neighbouring sea, within 
ten miles from Madras itself. Varied as is the collection, it comprises probably 
not one-tenth of the species available in these waters. Many among the common 
edible fishes, such as hilsa, mackerel and various sardines are too delicate to 
stand handling and transport to the tanks. The local fishermen too are reluctant 
to bring the better class of edible fishes, as they still entertain a belief that one 
object of the Aquarium is to breed fishes and they fancy that if this be done, 
there may be such a glut of fish that they will obtain but poor prices for their 
catches ! Other classes of fishes are unattractive or too bulky to exhibit. 
Fig. 1, — The Scorpion Fish (Pterois russelli). 
Among the most showy fishes are the Scorpion-fish ( Pterois russelli ), the 
Butterfly-fishes (various species of Choetodon and Holocanihus) and the Parrot- 
fishes {Julis spp.). The first named are magnificently ornate creatures that 
compel attention and admiration ; the pectoral fins have attained dimensions far 
beyond anything requisite for swimming and must have some other reason — 
probably that of warning, for this fish is endowed with virulently poisonous 
spines in the dorsal fin. This fish’s movements are those of a mannequin on show 
when it swims ; it sails along very slowly and gracefully, with a just perceptible 
fluttering of the great butterfly-like fins ; it often halts for moments together 
