Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 August 1903 — A Piscatorial Gunner. [ARTICLE]

A Piscatorial Gunner.

The Jaculator fish, the piscatorial gunner of the Javan lakes, uses his mouth ns a squirt gun and is a marksman of no mean ability. Go to a small lake or pond filled with specimens of jaculators, place a stake or pole in the water with the end projecting from one to three feet above the surface, place a beetle or fly on top of the pole and await developments. Soon the water will be swarming with finny gunners, each anxious for a shot at the tender morsel which the experimenter has placed in full view. Presently one comes to the surface, steadily observes his prey and measures the distance. Instantly he screws his mouth into the funniest shapes Imaginable, discharges a stream of water with precision equal to any sharpshooter, knocks the fly or beetle into the water, where he is instantly devoured by the successful Nimrod or some of his hungry horde. This sport may be kept up as long as the supply of beetles and flies bolds out.