110 ACANTHOPTERYGII.^ — CH^TODONTID^. 
experiments were instituted to ascertain the fact. 
We know that it is the case with one species in- 
habiting the same seas, but so different in its 
structure as to form a genus by itself, the Archer 
of Java {Toxotes jaculatoTy Cuv.). The mouth is 
not at all tubular, nor is it produced into a snout, 
the gape is rather wide, and the lower jaw is 
longer than the upper, a mouth totally different 
from that of Chelmon^ yet it has exactly the same 
habit. It well merits,” observe MM. Cuvier 
and Valenciennes, the name of Archer, by its 
singular industry. It knows how to shoot drops 
of water to a great height, three feet and up- 
wards, and to reach, almost without failure, the 
insects, or other minute animals, which creep on 
the aquatic plants, or even on those that grow 
upon the shore. The inhabitants of many coun- ' 
tries of the Indies, especially the Chinese of Java, 
rear it in their houses to amuse themselves with 
its manoeuvres, and offer it ants or flies on threads |i 
and sticks within its reach. We have received | 
from Batavia an individual, the stomach of which I 
was entirely filled with ants.”^ 
It is probable that this is by no means the | 
constant habit of procuring food even with this 
species, but that they more commonly content 
themselves with the minute animals which, like 
themselves, inhabit the sea-water. The learned 
naturalists just quoted, found, on dissecting a 
second specimen of the Toxotes^ that the stomach 
was filled with small crustacea,\ We have 
watched the proceedings of a brilliant little Chse- ■ 
todon on the shores of Jamaica {Ch, striatus )^ — | 
a tiny creature, no larger than a five-shilling 
^ Hist, des Poissons, vii. 310. t Ibid. p. 321. 
