El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-12-14


The division of fishes in the National
museum possesses one Of the best col
iections of fishes in the world. The
United States has led all Of the nations
in the matter of FISH culture. This su-
premacy has made great demands upon
the naturalist for Information and many
cruises on the high seas have been made
for the purpose Of studying the PROB
lens related 10 fish culture Insse
cruises have Invariably proved rlch eN-
petitions for the collection Of new ma
terial for the study of the zoologist
dealing with fishes and their habits OF
life. All parts of the globe nave con-
tributed to the collections in the mu-
scum, with the result that a large ma
jOrity of the 1900 species OF fishes
which have been described, are repre-
scented in these collections. These L.
900 species are divided into zoe fami-
lies, some with hundreds OF species ana
others represented by a single species.
I About One-third of all the species OF
fishes known to exist inhabit the va
ters contiguous TO the North Amerl-
can continent More than 1000 OF these
serve as food and game fishes How
much fish culture has done in enlarg-
ing Americas supply Of sea food is
shown by the fact that in a single cen
fury the kinds OF fish represented IN
the eastern seabOard markets Of the
country have increased from 81 varieties
to IS varieties
"A EuEuAGAula r A-A
The pecuHarlues OF the various spe-
cies Of fish differ as widely as those Of
any other sub kingdom OF the animal
World Some OF them are as t1mid as
the hare, and seek only to keep out Of
the way OF danger others are as pug
nacious as a bull dog, and fight to the
death when aroused. In Hawaii the ma
tives take advantage Of the pugnacity
Of the sticklebacks specimens Of which
are found In the National museum col
lections. The native catches one and
ties fl with a string. Others are at
tracted by the disturbance and coming
TO put up a fight are captured by the
Many kinds of fish are equipped with
weapons Of defence One of these Is
the electric ray, which has a living
eiectfic battery consisting Of 409 prismls
filled with clear, trembling, jellylike
substance. This battery has all the
known qualities of magnetism; 1t
moves the magnetic needle, and de-
uves Of South America demagnetize
these fishes by driving mules into the
water and allowing them to receive on
their legs the shocks caused by the
aroused 0neer ~ the electric rays.
Fishes With Headlights.
In the sulf stream, along the shores
Of the United states. a fish is found
with peculiar headlight attachments
which il is able to use whenever neces-
sary. This fish inhabits the water at
citrate, and its headlight serves for pur-
poses Of intelligent navigation Some
species Of fish are protected by their
poisonous qualities Among these are
the file fishes, trigger fishes. globe
fishes, pCrcunine fishes and buffers.
There is a fish in the waters OF Ha-
Wall known as the muki-muki- Its
flesh is poisonous in the highest de-
gree.
Fishes preceded the reptiles on the
earth and It remained for the present
secretary OF the Smithsonian institution
to discover the most ancient of all
known species. When secretary Wal
colt who is one OF the most eminent OF
living paleontOlcgist was making some
Investigations in the rocks Of the Tren-
ton period Of the lower siIuriau age OF
geology he found among them a fossil
specimen Of a small fish resembling a
group of living fishes hut known by
It's position in the rock. to have lived
millions of years ago The next oldest
of the finny tribe, which has been dis
covered by Fhe geologist. comes from
the Bloomfield sandstone Of Pennsylva-
Ma The Oldest fishes in Europe OF
which traces have been discovered were
found In the upper silurian- These
we're entombed there ages after the
ones which were discovered by secre-
Habits Of Fishes.
The need OF closer study Of the
fishes of the world is shown in an ad-
dress by DR.. Theodore Gill before the
fourth International Fisheries con-
gress held in Washington He called
attention to the fact that the habits OF
some Of the most common fishes are
scarcely known except by a very
small circle Of fish culturlsts. He took
as an Illustration the case Of the crap
pie. showing how closely related species
differ much in habits. Taking the spe-
cies of fishes which exercise parental
care over their offspring, he called at
tenuOn to the little known TACT that
this differs. i'm detail in such species as
the black bass and the sunfish. He de-
clared that while it formerly was urged
that all cells must spawn in fresh water,
closer observation has disclosed the
fact that all of their spawning is done
in the deep. sea, and that no cells return
after spawning
Collection of shells.
The division Of mollusks has a very
large collection Of shells-land, fresh
water and marine. A recent addition to
this collection consists OF nearly 1000
land shells gathered by the Roosevelt
African expedition. Another large
addition consists Of land and fresh wa
ter shells from the Philippines. From
deep sea dredgings, made chiefly by
the vessels of the bureau of fisheries, a
large amount Of fine material from the
ocean bottom in different parts of the
world has been accumulated. While
consisting chiefly of the remains Of the
lowest forms of life this material also
contains immense numbers Of small.
and even microscopic. mollusks. Tho
work of sorting ont the specimens is
slow and tedious no less than a quar-
ter Of million specimens being OBJ
tanned I'm a single wear. Dr. VIM. H.
Dali. the curator, has been gathering
molluskS along the northwest coast
OF America for 40 years, and this mate
rial has been ARRANGED so IS TO permit
il being Systematically studied.
The division OF marine Invertebrates
deals with the lowest of all the sub
Kingdoms of the animal world. This
Of these loWlv crea lures Of the sea. and
is gradually expanding IL. both IN the
number of sneCimens and the number Of
sDecfes represented. During a recent
wear the steamer Alba tross gathered
over 1000 specimens ~ brittle stars in
TanarAee waters. TIE interuat ioual
character of geological science is dis
cfesed hy the fact that manv valuable
additions to tire National museum col
lections have been presented to II bv