114 
THE GOLDEN RIVER. 
accurate account of the fish at the time, and 
intended in anything I wrote to make use of 
the work of some man of science, which would 
be of much more value than anything by an 
amateur; and I made no doubt that such could 
be found in a book of reference. This, however, 
is not the case. None can be discovered, nor 
can the authorities in the Fish Department of 
the South Kensington Museum help. All that 
appears to be recorded is his classification. It 
is true that there is a stuffed specimen in the 
Museum, but this darkens counsel rather than 
otherwise. The colouring is different from that 
of those we caught. It is the colour of butter, 
whereas the dorado when we caught them were 
deep old gold : there are no black spots; and no 
red bar on the tail. However, this may be due 
to the fact that it had to be stuffed by someone 
who had never seen one alive. But also the 
shape and make appear to my uninstructed eye 
to be different: it is too long for its breadth, 
and the head looks too short. Possibly two or 
more species of the genus Salminus resemble 
each other, and are popularly called dorado, 
and the stuffed specimen is one kind and we 
caught another. Or I may be mistaken in the 
lack of resemblance, for I speak from memory, 
and have no dorado fresh from the Alto-Parana 
to lay alongside the stuffed one. Or the stuffed 
fish may be out of condition. It is impossible 
to be certain. 
