Queries and Answers, 683 



lasted ; and after this I was not able to meet with another shoal of min- 

 nows in the act of spawning. — T. G.) 



The head of the minnow, in the spawning season, is spotted over with small 

 white knobs, apparently osseous in their structure, which make their 

 appearance immediately before they begin to spawn, and which disappear 

 again as shortly after ; and I think they are intended as a protection to the 

 head of the fish during the spawning, as I remarked that they generally 

 thrust their heads in between two pebbles, and had their tails sticking up 

 almost perpendicularly. Yet this was not always the case, as they some- 

 times ran nearly out of the water ; and it was in this situation that I 

 observed what I have before mentioned, as I found it impossible to dis- 

 cover any thing that was done by those in deeper water ; for, when a female 

 went into such a situation, there was such a crowd of males rushed to the 

 place, that I lost sight of her in a moment. 



I was astonished to find how quickly the eggs were hatched. I dis- 

 covered a large shoal spawning on the 11th of May; on the 12th, they 

 were diminished to one tenth of the number; and on the 14th (the 13th 

 was Sunday), there was not one left. As I had by no means satisfied 

 myself on the subject, I felt disappointed that they had so soon finished 

 their operations ; and I took up a handful of the gravel where they had 

 been spawning, and examined it with the microscope, to see whether I 

 could discover any eggs, and how they were going on ; when, to my great 

 surprise, I found them hatching, and some of them already excluded from 

 the egg. One of them, which I took on the point of a knife, swam briskly 

 away ; and another was the means of pointing out an enemy to me that I 

 had never before suspected, and that I had always believed to be the prey 

 and not the devourer of fish. The poor minnow had somehow got fast to 

 the point of the knife ; and, in its struggles to free itself, it attracted the 

 attention of a creeper (the larva, I believe, of the fly called the green drake 

 by anglers), which pounced upon it as fiercely as the water staphylinus does 

 upon the luckless tadpole : but, fortunately for the minnow, either the glit- 

 tering of the knife-blade, or the motion of my hand, scared it away again 

 without its prey. 



The young minnows in this state were quite transparent, except the 

 eyes, which appeared disproportionately large ; and they seemed to be per- 

 fectly aware that they owed their safety to concealment, as those that I saw 

 immediately buried themselves in the gravel when they were set at liberty. 

 — T. G. Clitheroe, Lancashire, May 2. 1832. 



On preserving Insects selected for Cabinets, (p. 495.) — I only know of two 

 methods to guard prepared insects from the depredations of living ones. 

 The first is, by poisoning the atmosphere; the second is, by poisoning the pre- 

 served specimens themselves, so effectually, that they are no longer food for 

 the depredator. But there are some objections to both these modes. A poi- 

 soned atmosphere will evaporate in time, if not attended to, or if neglected 

 to be renewed; and there is great difficulty in poisoning some specimens, 

 on account of their delicacy and minuteness. If you keep spirits of tur- 

 pentine in the boxes which contain your preserved specimens, I am of opi- 

 nion that those specimens will be safe as long as the odour of turpentine 

 remains in the box ; for it is said to be the most pernicious of all scents 

 to insects. But it requires attention to keep up an atmosphere of spirit of 

 turpentine. If it be allowed to evaporate entirely, then there is a clear and 

 undisputed path open to the inroads of the enemy : he will take advantage 

 of your absence or neglect ; and, when you return to view your treasure 

 you will find it in ruins. Spirits of turpentine, poured into a common glass 

 inkstand in which there is a piece of sponge, and placed in a corner of 

 your box, will create a poisoned atmosphere, and kill every insect there. 

 The poisoning of your specimens by means of corrosive sublimate in alco- 



