244 Mr. A. Hancock on the Nidification of 



and the encounters were therefore fierce and prolonged ; but, 

 nevertheless, conducted with all due caution, and apparently with 

 much science, as the gentlemen of the ring would express it. 

 The sparring was very wary, and generally lasted a few seconds 

 before the combatants closed. The attack was usually com- 

 menced by one quietly creeping up, watching its opportunity ; 

 on this, the other, acting on the defensive, would turn its broad 

 side to the enemy and raising the ventral spine wait to receive 

 the onslaught ; the assailant, intimidated by this formidable de- 

 monstration, would then slowly retreat, and in its turn had in 

 the same manner to defend itself. After thus advancing and 

 retreating for a few times, one, taking advantage of an unguarded 

 moment, would rush in upon its opponent and butt at it with 

 its head, apparently endeavouring to bite ; the other, rallying, 

 returned the compliment, and after dashing at each other in this 

 way two or three times, with extraordinary rapidity, the round 

 would terminate, and each fish retreat to its nest to recommence 

 its more immediate nidimental duties. 



The fry were, at first, so minute and transparent that they 

 could scarcely be discerned as they lay partially concealed amid 

 the meshes of the nest : every now and then a slight fluttering 

 motion betrayed their position, otherwise it was almost impos- 

 sible to distinguish them. As I was closely watching their mo- 

 tions, at this time, one of the newly hatched fishlings, with in- 

 trepidity beyond its experience, ventured to pass the limits of its 

 cradle: in an instant the watchful parent was there, and with 

 gaping mouth seized the little wanderer, which immediately dis- 

 appeared, the jaws having closed upon it. Seeing this, I at once 

 gave up the fry for lost, deeming that here was an instance of 

 instinct at fault, and that all the affectionate solicitude of the 

 parent was to end in its devouring its offspring. Tn this I was 

 mistaken : the old fish, quietly returning, dropped the straggler 

 into its nest lively and uninjured. During the whole of this 

 day none of the fry were permitted to ramble beyond the pre- 

 cincts of their fold ; when any attempted to do so — and many 

 did attempt — they were invariably brought back in the mouth 

 of the parent : none escaped its vigilant eye, and it was amusing 

 to see with what a hurried, fluttering motion the little things 

 dropped almost perpendicularly down into the nest, so soon as 

 they were released from the jaws of the parent. 



It was three days before all the eggs were hatched, and the 

 attention of the parent, during all this time, was unremitting. 

 On the second day I marked its manoeuvres for five minutes, 

 and found that, in this short period, it ventilated the nest eight 

 times, warded off an attack of the neighbouring fish, and 

 brought back to the nest a straggler or two. During this day 



