278 Mr. R. Warington on the Habits of the Water-Bnail 



more of a green tint, tlie throat and belly of a paler red, and all 

 the glowmg appearance subsides. The female fish is of a bro\|[ii 

 colour on the back, the eye also brown and the belly white, m^ 

 I now pass on to the present year, when I had the plea- 

 sure of seeing the nest built from the very commencement and 

 through all its stages. The place selected for the nest was 

 the bare flat top of a piece of oolite where it formed a right 

 angle by resting against the glass partition which separated two 

 of these ponds, in one of which were kept four minnows and 

 two small eels, and in the second the sticklebacks which form the 

 subject of this observation. In this the male fish commenced 

 gradually to deposit and accumulate his materials. I will 

 endeavour to give in detail the exact description of his proceed- 

 ings while I had the opportunity of watching him, avoiding as 

 much as possible the repetition of his operations ; for as each loose 

 fibre or small piece of material was brought singly to the chosen 

 spot, the same routine would be gone through over and over 

 again : — Now he arrives with a large fibre in his mouth, deposits 

 it, rearranges the whole of the materials, already accumulated, 

 with his mouth, removing one fibre to this place and another 

 to that, and departs on his search for more. Now he returns 

 carrying a small piece of gravel, which is carefully placed on part 

 of the fibres as it were to keep them down ; he then draws him- 

 self slowly over the whole and is off again. Now he brings 

 another fibre, w^hich he dibs in with his snout so as to make it 

 interlace with the others ; then he attempts to interlace in the 

 same way the fibrous rootlet of a Lemna which is growing above 

 his head, but which the instant he thinks he has fastened and 

 loosens his hold of, rises again by its expanded lobe to the sur- 

 face j this fibre appears to be well fitted for his purpose, for he 

 repeats his attempts to fix it among his gleanings over and over 

 again. Now he is busy making a circular hole in the middle of 

 the accumulated materials with his snout ; a piece of the fibre is 

 next taken out from the mass, projected from his mouth, watched 

 as it falls very slowly through the water ; then, as it proves too 

 light for his purpose, it is again seized, carried to some distance, 

 and projected away, and he is off to rearrange the remainder, care- 

 fully tucking in the ends with his snout ; he then draws himself 

 slowly across the whole and is off again. Now he catches a sight 

 of the female fish, pursues her with great rapidity, seizes her by 

 the tail and by the lateral spine, but she escapes his grasp and 

 conceals herself behind the rock-work. Again he conveys more 

 material to the nest^ and the next journey is again laden with 

 another small piece of gravel ; the whole is then slightly shaken, 

 then compressed, and he is off again ; thus he conveys without 

 (Cessation decayed rootlets, grave^l, sand; and whatever materialJie 



