834 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of the bottom, where they may disport themselves at their ease until 

 they grow strong enough to venture on a wider range of thought and 

 action. If rival papas or hungry mammas attempt to devour them, he 

 falls upon the assailants in a violent fury, and carried away, it would 

 appear, by the warmth of his feelings, occasionally goes so far as actu- 

 ally to indulge in acts of cannibalism. For this I do not commend 

 him. No amount of ethical enthusiasm can ever justify a truly moral 

 being in devouring the persons of his fallen enemies. 



Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society are probably aware 

 that in the neighborhood of London, and more precisely through the 

 parish of Wandsworth, there flows a minor tributary of Thames, by 

 name the Wandle. This stream, as the sportive youth of South 

 London know full well, abounds in sticklebacks of all ages and sexes ; 

 and here it was that Mr. Smee, one of the chief contributors to the 

 modern theory of tittlebats, first observed their habits and manners. 

 " They are very pugnacious and cunning creatures," says he, in his 

 charming work, " My Garden." " They build a nest and protect it. 

 In the middle of May I observed a stickleback evidently guarding a 

 circle of about two inches in diameter, and chasing away every other 

 fish which came within his domain. On closer examination, I saw at 

 the bottom a small circular plate of the same size, made of fiber, but 

 arranged level with the bed of the stream. Suspecting a nest, I care- 

 fully raised it, when it proved to contain two parcels of eggs, which 

 were about the size of a large pin's head. I immediately replaced the 

 material as well as I could in its former place ; but the stickleback 

 was not at all satisfied with my arrangement, and set to work dili- 

 gently to adjust it himself. He brought little bits of fiber and thrust 

 them into the mass, and rearranged the larger fibers. When he was 

 perfectly satisfied with what he had done, he mounted guard and 

 rushed at any other fish which came near him. Afterward, I found 

 these nests by scores, each protected by its guardian stickleback ; and 

 in the month of May I can always delight my visitors by showing 

 them a nest presided over by the pugnacious little fish." I may add 

 that similar nests are to be found in almost every brook or pond in 

 England at the appropriate season : only, you must be born with the 

 proper eye for seeing them. It is not every man who can discern stick- 

 leback. I once conducted a statistical survey of all the lizards inhab- 

 iting Great Britain and Ireland, and came to the conclusion, as the 

 result of my census, that the lacertine population of the United King- 

 dom numbers at least two hundred million, or more than five times 

 the human beings ; and yet how often most people on their walks 

 abroad meet a man, and how very, very seldom they happen upon a 

 lizard ! 



Sticklebacks are not by any means the only fish which thus take 

 care of their helpless progeny during the first weeks of infancy. It 

 must be remembered that our acquaintance with the domestic habits 



