ARCHER, William, English author and critic: b. Perth, Scotland 23 Sept. 1856. Edu cated at Edinburgh University; became bar rister, Middle Temple, 1883. Went to London 1878, became dramatic critic of the Figaro, 1879-81, and London World, 1884-1905, after wards of the Tribune and Nation, now of the Star. He has edited and translated Ibsen's
Dramas' (5 vols.) and with his brother translated Ibsen's 'Peer Gynt.' He has written
of Macready' (1890); (English Drama tists of To-day' (1882) ;
a fish reputed to' be able to shoot drops of water from its mouth at insects in the air above, thus bringing the in sects down where they can be seized. The
name is most frequently applied to a single species, Toxotes jdculator, a fish six or seven inches long, a native of Java and the neighbor ing islands, which represents an aberrant group of chztodonts, or coral fishes (q.v.). This, however, is an error of identification, the true fish with this habit being a related small coral fish (Chelmon rostratus) of India. This genus has its mouth extended into a tube-like snout, forming a sort of nozzle. When it perceives an insect perched on a plant over the water, it swims to within a distance of from four to six feet, and then with surprising dexterity will eject a single drop of water with so true an aim as to knock the insect into the water where it is instantly seized. Captives will do this in a tank or aquarium; whereas experiments show that the Toxotes never does such a thing for which its mouth is entirely unfitted.