ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
137 
mention a goodly number of blue crabs which 
manage to find their way into the pocket. 
We are able to record with considerable sat¬ 
isfaction that many of the choice specimens 
collected in the two previous years are still on 
exhibition and in excellent health. 
The large tripletail ( Lobotes surinamensis ) 
still graces the tank occupied chiefly by weak- 
fish and on account of its ravenous appetite, 
has grown to be quite fat and sleek. Its first 
associates were a number of rudderfish, but not 
being endowed with their great speed or a pug¬ 
nacious nature it fared poorly only being able 
to pick up such scraps as these active swimmers 
overlooked, which were few indeed. On being 
placed with the relatively more retiring weak- 
fish, however, it soon recuperated and now is 
in the pink of condition. This incident is men¬ 
tioned chiefly to serve as an illustration of the 
innumerable details which must be constantly 
kept in mind by the employees of such an in¬ 
stitution harboring so many piscatorial types of 
varied disposition and habit. 
The large sand shark ( Carch arias taurus ) 
and the attending retinue of shark-suckers and 
rudderfish still retains its eminence among the 
many exhibits. The only difficulty with this 
group is that occasionally a rudderfish will be¬ 
come careless in his habits and swim too near 
to the ready mouth of the shark and so find 
his doom. This condition apparently is brought 
about, not by any lack of intelligence on the 
part of the rudderfish, but on the contrary may 
be accounted for on the score of its good devel¬ 
opment. In the state of nature the rudderfish 
has learned to follow sharks in order to pick 
up crumbs from their orgies. This they attempt 
to continue in confinement for some time, but 
after a mild degree of domestication has taken 
place they manage to forget their normal 
habit and in its place discover that their food 
is dropped to them through the surface by some 
benevolent biped. From then on their troubles 
begin as they wander aimlessly about, coming 
to the surface whenever anyone approaches the 
rear of the tank, in the hope of being fed. 
So with many of the other exhibits of local 
fishes little yarns might be spun, the moonfish, 
the school of young pompanos, the sea turtles, 
the spots, croakers, puffers, and burrfish all 
holding their own and adding bit by bit to our 
knowledge of fish life. 
Likewise on the bay, incidents constantly 
occur of interest to the student of fishes. For 
example while riding at anchor in early June 
on a smooth sea at Sandy Hook, a school of 
small fishes led by a larger fish swam up and 
hovered alongside the hull. One fell swoop of 
a fine meshed dip net entrapped nearly all of 
them and it was then seen that they were two- 
spined sticklebacks ( Gastserosteous bispinosus), 
the small ones not being more than a month or 
two old while the large one on dissection proved 
to be an adult female which showed evidence of 
having recently spawned. There is nothing to 
prove that this was her brood but since in other 
species of this group parental care is shown, at 
least in the male, one could not help forming 
a comparison connecting this fish with a hen 
and her chicks. Although this is a common 
species near New York these were the first we 
had seen in this bay. 
While wandering along a small creek near 
this same spot in search of fiddler crabs, the 
little fellows that run about on shore wildly 
waving an absurd claw, large enough for any 
ordinary crab five times their size, the feeding 
of a “one armed” blue crab struck the attention 
as he industriously gleaned the meat from the 
shell of a black mussel which he may or may 
not have opened himself. No word but flock 
could fit the group of killies which hovered over 
and about him trying to snap up little bits he 
might lose and no doubt constantly obtaining 
appetisers in the form of gustatory pleasures 
from the juices of the fresh meat that wafted 
toward them as he rended the flabby tissues 
with his butchering apparatus. When the killies 
became too enthusiastic and closed in too close 
about him for comfort in their struggle for a 
livelihood a ludicrous wave of his single “arm” 
sent them scurrying off to some more respect¬ 
ful distance. The scene was accentuated by a 
nearby school of current stemming silversides 
(Menidia menidia not at a) which disdained so 
meanly a begging from a miserable invertebrate, 
preferring no doubt to save their appetites for 
some small relative of the crab himself which 
would be sure to come in on the next rise of 
tide. 
These killies of which there are two species 
{Fundulus majalis ) and (F. lieteroclitus ) com¬ 
mon in the bay spawn chiefly in June and in 
proportion to their size deposit extremely large 
eggs. This fact has facilitated a study of the 
development of these ecologically important 
fishes. When another year affords the oppor¬ 
tunity for a further study the making of some 
interesting observations is anticipated. Thus not 
only does the Seahorse provide exhibition speci¬ 
mens from local waters, but enables those con¬ 
nected with the work to make field observations 
on the side as well. Between May 2 and October 
23, after which date the boat was hauled out, 
nineteen trips were made: One to Long Island, 
