326 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



food, carrying the luxury so far as to have them brought alive upon 

 their table, to enjoy the beautiful sight of the changing of their colors 

 in the struggles of death ; and yet every page of his work shows that 

 most of his information respecting the habits of fishes was borrowed 

 from his intercourse with fishermen. The works of Aristotle furnish 

 frequent evidence that his own information upon this class of animals, 

 as far as their habits were concerned, had a similar foundation. But 

 he, as all gi'eat naturalists of all times, sifted the reports, sought for 

 more information where it seemed needed, and related only what he 

 knew could be depended upon, however marvellous some of his state- 

 ments may seem at first sight. There are many facts of this kind 

 related in the works of Aristotle, which have excited considerable 

 doubt, and even led to suspicions respecting the general trustworthi- 

 ness of his assertions. There are a few passages in his works which 

 have even been questioned more directly. Such is his mention of 

 the habits of the Glanis, in the following passages : — 



" ' The fresh-water fishes spawn in the still waters of rivers and lakes 

 among the reeds, as the Phoxinos and the Perke. The Glanis and 

 the Perke give out their spawn in a continuous string, like the frogs ; 

 and indeed the spawn is so wound up that the fishermen reel it off, at 

 least that of the Perke, from the reeds in lakes. 



" ' The larger Glanis spawns in deep waters, some at the depth of 

 a fathom ; the smaller in shallower places, especially among the roots 

 of willows or some other tree, and also among the reeds, or the 

 mosses. They copulate, sometimes a very large with a very small 

 one, and bringing the parts together which some call the navel, and 

 through which they discharge the seed, the females the eggs, and the' 

 males the sperma. All the eggs that are mingled with the sperma 

 become generally on the first day white and larger, and a little later 

 the eyes of the fishes become visible. These at first, in all fishes, 

 as also in all animals, are early conspicuous on account of their size. 

 And those of the eggs that the sperm does not touch, as in the 

 case of the sea-fishes, are useless and sterile. But in these fertile 

 eggs, as the fishes grow larger, a kind of husk separates. And this 

 is the envelope that encloses the egg and the young fish. When 

 the sperm has mingled with the egg, the spawn becomes more viscous 

 among the roots, or wherever it may have been deposited. And 

 where the greatest quantity is deposited, the male guards the eggs, 

 and the female, having spawned, departs. The growth of the Glanis 



