THE NEW YORK AQUARIUM JOURNAL. 
39 
n 
THE BANDED PROTEUS. 
Menobranchus Lateralis. 
The Banded Proteus now to be seen in table 
tank w of the fresh water series, is one of the 
most curious and interesting of aquatic animals. 
As the visitor to the Aquarium will be able to ob¬ 
serve its peculiarities of form and structure, no 
extended description of them is needed. It will 
be well, however, to direct attention to the pe¬ 
culiar form of the gills, there being three on 
each side, ramified and fringed, and of a red 
color, on account of the blood which circu¬ 
lates through them. Dr. Beall invented an in¬ 
genious arrangement by which this phenomenon 
of circulation could be witnessed. The blood 
dies are of so extraordinary a size that they can. 
"TSe djstthgu •shed by an ordinary pocket magni¬ 
fier while passing through the vessels. 
The Banded Proteus is found in Lake Cham¬ 
plain and at the outlet of Lake George. It is 
also to be found in certain of our Northern and 
inland lakes, where its presence is a bane to the 
fLhermen, since it has a peculiar fondness for 
the spawns of the white fish. Its movements in 
the water are usually slow, but, from the size of 
its tail, it is evident that when occasion demands 
it can move with great speed. .They are said 
occasionally to come upon the land. Its color 
is brownish with blackish spots, and its length 
varies from one to two feet. 
Wood, writing of the proleus anguinus, states 
that at the duchy of Carmiola is a most won¬ 
derful ’cavern, called, the grotto of the Madda- 
lina extending many hundred feet below the 
surface of the earth, and consequently buried in 
the profoundest darkness. In this cavern exists 
a little lake, roofed with stalactites surrounded 
with masses of rock and floored with a bed of 
soft mud, upon which the Proteus may be seen 
crawling uneasily, as if endeavoring to avoid the 
unwelcome light by which its presence is known. 
These creatures are not always to be found in 
the lake, though after heavy rains they are tol¬ 
erably abundant. 
The same writer adds that the discovery of 
this animal is extremely valuable, not only as an 
aid to the science of comparative anatomy, but 
as affording another instance of the strange and 
wondrous forms of animal life which still survive 
in hidden and unvisited nooks of the earth. For 
several of the specimens now on exhibition our 
acknowledgements are due to Prof. Birt. G. 
Wilder of Cornell University. 
COMMON STICKLEBACK, 
Gasteros/eus Pungilius. 
This well-known fish is found in ponds, 
streams, and rivers, and appears equally suited 
to salt water, and belongs to the order of spine- 
finned fishes known scientifically as Acan- 
thopterygii. It is extremely voracious. An 
observer, once standing by the side of an orna¬ 
mental lake, saw a young frog hopping past. He 
threw it in a short distance to exhibit its powers 
of swimming to a young bather, anxious to learn 
the art. The moment it reached the surface of 
the water, a flash of light seemed to be emitted 
from the bottom. It was caused by a shoal of 
Sticklebacks, which pounced upon the unfor¬ 
tunate frog with great fierceness. In a few 
moments the four legs of the poor creature were 
eaten away, and new shoals came hurrying' from 
more distant parts of the lake to the prey. The 
battle that took place round the victim was as 
desperate as could be imagined. Though pelted 
at with bits of gravel,' they would not leave it, 
but continued to nibble and battle among them¬ 
selves as long as a particle remained. This in¬ 
stance of voracity is, however, not surprising, for 
they do not hesitate to devour one another. 
The peculiarity of the Stickleback which, how¬ 
ever, commands the special attention of the nat¬ 
uralist, is its expertness as a nest-builder. In 
the first number of the Aquarium Journal an ex¬ 
tended description of the methods employed by 
these fish in the construction of their marine 
homes was published. The illustration here 
given shows the form of the nest, and also de¬ 
picts the ingenuity of the little builders in the 
choice of a location. Here it will be seen that 
one has chosen the end of a rope as the site of 
his home, and by the aid of his mouth alone 
has converted it into a nest. A number of these 
graceful and ingenious little creatures may now 
be seen in post tank 9. 
In addition to its instinctive skill and intelli¬ 
gence the Stickleback, it is claimed, may be 
trained and instructed by man. As illustrating 
this Prof. Butler, the Superintendent of the 
Aquarium, states that he has been able, by the 
aryl of an ingenious but simple device, to teach 
his ^Sticklebacks to ring a bell when they wanted 
foot;. The bell was suspended above the tank, 
and th 5 connecting rope, a fine thread, having 
been bAited was lowered into the tank below. 
Thenibtylingof the bait rang the bell. Care having 
been takeft to add fresh bait whenever the cord 
was pulled.^ the little Sticklebacks soon learned 
to summon bheir attendant by this means. 
THE ALLEGHANY HELL-BENDER, 
Mmopoma A Ilegh an ibis is. 
The interest which attaches itself to the series 
of fresh water tanks at the Aquarium is mainly 
divided at present between the Proteus as seen in 
tank w, and the subject of the present sketch. As 
its name indicates, the Hell-bender is found in 
the Alleghany river and other tributaries of the 
Ohio. It is also known as the Salamander of 
the Alleghanies. The specimens shown in tank 
r were presented to the Aquarium by the Buffalo 
Society of Natural Sciences, through its Secretary, 
Mr. A. R. Grote, who also read an interesting 
paper on the subject before the American Acad¬ 
emy at its last meeting. This gentleman also 
records, in the American Journal of Science, the 
interesting fact that this animal sheds a trans¬ 
parent membrane, which he believes to be the 
exterior layer of the skin. While observing one 
in the Aquarium of the Buffalo Society of Nat¬ 
ural Sciences, an almost complete skin, all the 
feet and toes being readily perceived, was seen 
floating in the water, and later the creature was 
discovered in the act of swallowing his former 
covering, a practice which has also been ob¬ 
served in the toad. In a recent communication 
Mr. Grote describes this operation of shedding 
the skin, from which we learn that this thin and 
transparent membrane is first seen to loosen and 
separate from the entire surface of the body, ap¬ 
pearing at this stage like an envelope or glove in 
which the animal is contained. By a number 
of wide gapings, during which the mouth is 
opened to the fullest extent, the skin is parted 
about the lips, and then commences to fold 
backward from the head. Convulsive and un¬ 
dulating movements with the body and fore legs 
are employed to extract these from the loose 
skin. The skin then readily falls backward, as 
the animal crawls forward and out of it, until 
the hind legs are rrached, when the menojoma 
turns round upon itself, and, taking the skin in 
its mouth, pulls it over the legs and tail. The 
operation reminds one of taking off clothes. The 
cast off skin is reained in the mouth and finally 
swallowed. The operation is quickly performed. 
The'visitor who watches the menopoma, will ob¬ 
serve a swaying motion of the body; this action 
is not yet fullyaccounted for, though it is possible 
that it is connected with the animal’s desire to rid 
himself of his ugly skin. 
A female Hell-bender opened on the 21st ot 
August contained well developed eggs attached 
by a membrane to the oviary. These eggs are 
laid in a connected string, and are deposited along 
the muddy banks of the river. 
The two specimens of Hell-benders now on 
view are worthy of special study, and, as in 
many other cases, we would advise those inter¬ 
ested to view them as soon as possible, as al¬ 
ready the confinement of the Aquarium has re¬ 
sulted in the death of one rare creature of this, 
class. 
