1-20 FISH HAEVEST1NG. 



lax order. No sooner has this lady, his first 

 love, taken her departure, than he at once 

 seeks another, introduces her as he did the 

 first, and so on wife after wife, until the nest is 

 filled with eggs, layer upon layer- milt being 

 carefully deposited betwixt each stratum of 

 ova. As it is necessary there should be two 

 holes, by which ingress and egress can be 

 readily accomplished, so it is equally essential in 

 another point of view. To fertilise fish-eggs, 

 running water is the first necessity ; and as 

 the holes are invariably placed in the direction 

 of the current, a steady stream of water is thus 

 directed over them. 



For six weeks (and sometimes a few days more) 

 the papa keeps untiring sentry over his treasure, 

 and a hard time he has of it too : enemies of all 

 sorts, even the females of his own species, having 

 a weakness for new-laid eggs, hover round his 

 brimming nest, and battles are of hourly occur- 

 rence ; for he defies them all, even to predatory 

 water-beetles, that, despite their horny armour, 

 often get a fatal lance-wound from the furious 

 fish. Then he has to turn the eggs, and expose 

 the under ones to the running water : and even 

 when the progeny make their appearence, his 

 domestic duties are far from ended, for it is said 



