. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. PARENTAL CARE AMONG FRESH-WATER FISHES. 487 Great numbers are salted and cured, and it is the object of a consider- able connnerce. THE HETRROTIS. The best account of the nesting habits of any Osteoglossoidean has been given by the late J. S. Budgett, Avho visited Africa in 1!)00 for the purpose of studying the life histories of some of that 's remarkable fishes. Like the arapaima, Ileterotis is so distinct from all other forms th
. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. PARENTAL CARE AMONG FRESH-WATER FISHES. 487 Great numbers are salted and cured, and it is the object of a consider- able connnerce. THE HETRROTIS. The best account of the nesting habits of any Osteoglossoidean has been given by the late J. S. Budgett, Avho visited Africa in 1!)00 for the purpose of studying the life histories of some of that 's remarkable fishes. Like the arapaima, Ileterotis is so distinct from all other forms that it has been set aside as the type of an independent famil}'. AMiile it agrees Avith the arapaima and the Osteoglossids as to the characters already indicated, it has a rounded belly, the dorsal shorter than the anal, the ventrals submedian, the postorbitals con- tinuous in an even curve with the suborl)itals, the mouth small, and the branchiostegal rays in reduced number (seven or eight). The princii)al characters, hoAvever, are skeletal modifications, especially of the bones of the back of the skull, and, more than all, of the exocci])i- tal bones, which furnish larire accessorv condvles for the first 72.—The Ileterotis (llLtcrutia nilutlcus). After A'alenciennes. The only known Ileterotis, II. , is a large fish, occasionally even attaining a length of 3 feet or more. A good idea of it may be obtained from the accompanying figure. The heterotis makes a very large circular nest, and, indeed, in some of the swamjDs of west Africa which Budgett visited, one of the most striking features was " the presence of numbers of enormous nests," which looked like '' miniature lagoons," and which j^roved to be those of Heteroth niloticiis. The " nests measured four feet in diameter and were made in about two feet of ; The walls were " about eight inches thick at the top and compact, being made of the stems of the grasses removed
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