( 322 ) 



On the manner in which Sticklebacks (Cottoid fishes) construct 

 their Nest and take care of their Eggs. By M. CoSTB. 



M. Coste has collected some very curious facts relating to 

 the instinct of sticklebacks, which shew that these fishes are 

 susceptible of more variety in their acts than is generally 

 supposed. We shall give the interesting communication 

 entire : — 



" I have placed in the College of France, and in circular 

 basins about 2 metres in diameter and 33 centimetres in 

 depth, where I brought together all the conditions which ap- 

 peared to me material to the success of my experiments, a 

 great number of male and female sticklebacks, caught at the 

 time when they were about to deposit their eggs. A few 

 days after they were put into their new dwelling I noticed 

 certain males select a determinate point in the bottom of the 

 basin as their permanent abode, and display a remarkable 

 degree of activity. I endeavoured to observe what could be 

 the object of all these manoeuvres, and the cause of their 

 constant return to the same place. I was not long in dis- 

 covering that the occupation of each of them consisted in col- 

 lecting materials for a construction which required all the 

 resources of their industry ; and by following with uninter- 

 rupted attention the rapid progress of their laborious enter- 

 prise, I witnessed one of the most curious spectacles that 

 could be contemplated. 



" I saw each of the males that was engaged in this work 

 heap up, in the place he selected, pieces of grass of every 

 kind, which he often brought from a great distance, seizing 

 them with his mouth ; and by means of these he began to 

 form a kind of carpet. But as the materials which form the 

 first part of his edifice might be carried away by the move- 

 ments or oscillation of the water, he had the precaution to 

 bring some sand, with which he filled his mouth, and deposit 

 it on the nest in order to keep it in its place. Then, in order 

 to make all the substances thus brought together adhere to 

 each other, he pressed his belly against them, sliding slowly 

 as if by a kind of vibratory creeping, and in this way glued 



