ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
73 
(i) 
fish are aptly called “millions” by the 
natives of the country. 
The peculiar “four-eyed” fish Ana- 
bleps is another close relative, and is 
found along the sea shore and river 
shores of Guiana, occasionally being 
seen on the mud flats of the Penal 
Settlement, three miles below Kartabo, 
and rarely beneath the mangroves at 
Kartabo. 
The four-eyes represent one stage 
in the emergence of fish from their 
liquid home. When the surf is quiet 
and small waves are washing up on 
the shore, these fish may be found 
rolling in on a wave, receding slightly 
with the outgoing water, and remain¬ 
ing on the moist sand until the next 
rush pushes them farther up the beach. Here 
they spend hours, washing inward and out¬ 
ward, disappearing into the sea with a mad 
scramble if one comes too close to the point 
which they consider marks the limit of safety. 
If one approaches them in a boat they are likely 
in their wild movements to get away, to rush 
up on the beach and wriggle about on the shore, 
before realizing that they are not in their right 
element, and passing back into the water. But, 
as far as we know, they never entirely leave 
the water or the shores for any length of time, 
and certainly do not travel about on land. 
Rivulus represents another stage in these 
temporary changes from one element to another, 
quite different from that of Anableps. These 
fish are capable of hurling themselves entirely 
out of water and becoming attached to leaves 
and stones by the adhesive power of their tail, 
remaining out of water for a considerable time. 
In the aquariums at Kartabo these fish have 
stayed out of water for nine days at a stretch, 
lying on the sand, covered witli small pebbles, 
and as alert as if they were in normal circum¬ 
stances. By wriggling and moving their tail 
much in the same manner as they w'ould use it 
for swimming, they are able to progress quite 
rapidly along the ground. When alarmed they 
lip along, throwing themselves through the air 
at a much greater rate of speed than when mov¬ 
ing along the ground. These actions have been 
ascribed to the necessity of leaving their own 
pool when the water supply has become too low, 
or to a diminution in the food supply of the pool. 
When alarmed or dissatisfied with their sur¬ 
roundings, they start out of the water with a 
rapid rush, attaching themselves to the glass 
sides of the aquarium or to the leaves and rocks 
near the shores of their pool, as the case may 
be. This first rush is always made 
at high speed, and fish using all its 
energy and landing from one to three 
inches above the surface of the water, 
head upward and with the body verti¬ 
cal. From this point, upward loco¬ 
motion becomes more difficult for the 
fish, and in order to progress, it must 
use its powerful muscles, bending its 
body into a bow, then releasing the 
bow and hurling itself onward and 
upward, always landing, unlike the 
initial leap from the water, upside 
down, pectoral fins wide-spread, and 
attached by its tail. This type of 
progression is used mostly when 
alarmed and not when the fish is mov¬ 
ing quietly about. 
(3) 
LAND MINNOW, RIVULUS STAGNATUS EIGEN. 
1. Clinging to vertical surface out of water; side 
view. 2. Drawing showing flattened tail and spread 
supporting fins. d. Side view of Rivulus stagnatus. 
