336 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



discovered, in which were moving a number of little tadpoles. These 

 were at first taken for the tadpoles of frogs, and, to test the attachment 

 of the old fishes to the spot, Prof. A. took some pains to experiment 

 upon them. Pausing for a few moments, the two fishes returned 

 slowly and cautiously, looking anxiously toward the nest to see if it 

 had been disturbed. They approached to within six or eight feet of 

 where he stood. They were evidently not in search of food, and he 

 became convinced that they were seeking the protection of the young. 

 Large stones thrown repeatedly into the middle of the nest, after these 

 fishes had returned to it, only served to frighten them away for a brief 

 period ; they invariably returned to the spot within ten or fifteen min- 

 utes afterward. This was repeated for the fourth and fifth times, with 

 the same result. The nest was in a depression among the water- 

 plants. 



RESUSCITATION OF FROZEN FISH. 



THE following letter from a gentleman in Woodstock, Conn., pub- 

 lished in Sillimon's Journal for July, is confirmatory of the statement, 

 that fish taken from the water in the cold of winter, and thrown upon 

 the ice, after freezing quite hard, have been restored to their usual 

 activity when placed again in cold water : " Some time in the win- 

 ter of 1838 or 1839, I was in the habit of catching fish, daily, by 

 means of an eel-pot, which was so constructed as to receive and retain 

 them without injury if taken out soon after capture. It was the cus- 

 tom to examine the pot in the morning. On one occasion, a severe 

 cold morning, I drew up the pot and found a considerable number 

 were taken. These were emptied upon the snow, and suffered to re- 

 main there until they became frozen as stiff as icicles. I carried them 

 home, where they remained frozen for the space of an hour and a half 

 longer, and so stiff and inflexible that they could not be bent without 

 crackling, as did some of their tails and fins in pulling them apart 

 when they were congealed together. I then put them into a tub of 

 water drawn from the well, to thaw them for dressing, and I think 

 added a small quantity of warm water. After some little time, I ex- 

 amined them, and to my surprise found some as lively as when sport- 

 ing in their native brooks. I called on others to view them, who had 

 seen them while frozen. To them also it appeared almost incredible, 

 but we were compelled to believe our own eyes and senses. The fish 

 in question are believed to have been perch." 



THE DOMESTICATION OF FISHES. 



IN a memoir recently presented to the French Academy, M. Coste 

 remarks, that, having had his attention directed to the domestication of 

 fishes, he selected the eel Jo experiment upon, both because its man- 

 ner of generating is almost wholly unknown, and because its flesh is 

 not only agreeable to the taste, but constitutes an article of food very 

 favorable to health. In proof of this latter statement, the author men- 

 tions the inhabitants of a section of France, who live almost entirely 



