Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/122

108 genus Chætodon has many species in which Nature appears almost to have disported herself by clothing them in the most gaudy manner. Rose, purple, azure, and velvety black, are distributed along the surface of their bodies, in stripes, rings, and ocellated spots on a silver ground; nor are the beauties of these fishes lost to man, or confined to the depths of ocean. They are small, and usually remain near the shore, between the rocks, where there is but little water. Here they are incessantly sporting in the sun-beams, as if for the purpose of displaying the ornaments they have received from Nature."

In almost all the members of this numerous Family, the muzzle projects into a prominent snout; and in some of the genera, as Zanclus, and more especially Chelmon, it is produced into a long narrow tube. In the latter genus, a very curious instinct and endowment attend this peculiarity of structure. In the year 1763, Dr. Schlosser presented to the Royal Society a specimen of the East Indian species, now known as Chelmon rostratus, with some information on its singular habits, which had been given him by Mr. Hommel, governor of the hospital at Batavia, in Java. The fish "frequents the shores and sides of the sea and rivers in search of food; when it spies a fly sitting on the plants that grow in shallow water, it swims on to [within] the distance of four, five, or six feet; and then, with a surprising dexterity, it ejects out of its tubular mouth, a single drop of water, which never fails striking the fly into the sea, when it soon becomes its prey.