Queer Fish

From Our Own Correspondent

Noumea, Dec. 3.

A FEW months ago, a native boy speared a strange species of fish, which may have been of the edible vari ety, but we feared to eat it. The fish had a short horn, which came out paral lel from his head, and a leathery skin devoid of scales.

But the strangest thing about him were the two cutters on either side of his tail, resembling in shape a semi-circular knife, for cutting leather. These blades had the appearance of being stuck on, and were only about three-quarters of an inch out from the butt of his tail.

The tail had two long trailing films at either side, which curled inwards.

We were told the fish was called the Lecorn. A few weeks later, seeing an ad vertisement with the unicorn on it, I re cognised the resemblance.

The short black and white-banded sea snakes abound in these waters, and are often seen basking in the sun near the shore.

The Trocas divers most fear the great losh, which grows to an enormous size, and can swallow a man by suction. When small he is good eating, having very white flesh, and even the larger variety are en

tirely free from a fishy odour. A native brought in one scaling 120 lbs., and the flesh, when salted and lightly smoked, was of very high quality.

Old residents speak of sea eels 15 metres long. The only thing resembling this that I have seen, was a long, sinuous movement under the water, which curled about a bay within the coral reef. What ever this monster was, he would pass through a school of fish, which leapt out of the water, and then one saw the curl ing of his turn, and back he wound once more. One of the party, gifted with a vivid imagination, wrote an article to a leading London newspaper, declaring he had actually seen the serpent; but I can state very definitely that he did not. The long sinuous movement of this creature

made one feel sure that he was a monster of some kind.

The land crab, which goes up the palms in search of coconuts, is caught by the natives in a simple way. When they see that he is on his way up the palm, they quickly ascend a few yards from the ground and tie some grass around the bowl of the tree. When the crab descends and feels the grass, he evidently believes he is on the ground and releases his hold and falls to the ground and is “okr d l S th po n S a se S V sed “of enormous NeW