134 MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



of the cat-tail. Its sides are usually of growing water-plants. Nests 

 built, as often happens, under logs, stumps, or bushes, are apt to be ir- 

 regular in form and to have no vegetation at the sides. The bottoms of 

 the nests are covered by from one to two feet of water and are closely 

 strewn with the adhesive eggs. 



The male fish remains on the nest or in the neighborhood and guards 

 it until the young fish are hatched. 



The newly hatched larvae remain for some days attached to the bottom 

 of the nest by means of a peculiar .adhesive organ situated at the end 

 of the snout. After a time they leave the nest in company with the 

 male and for some time they remain together in a dense swarm which is 

 attended and protected by the male. When the fish have grown larger 

 che swarm disperses. 



Neglecting the earlier observations of Dr. Estes, 1 the foregoing state- 

 ments are taken from three published papers. Those of Fulleborn, 2 of 

 Dean, 3 and of Whitman and Eycleshymer, 4 and are corroborated by my 

 own observations extending over eight years. 



The points upon which these writers are not in agreement are indicated 

 under the first five headings below, while under the sixth head I have 

 given some observations on the act of spawning. My observations were 

 nearly all made during the springs of 1898 and 1899, in a small bay 

 of the Huron river — a bay which measures about 230 bv 30 vards. In 

 this area 21 nests were located in 1897 and the same number in 1898. 



1. Are the nests made at the time of spawning or earlier ? 



Whitman and Eycleshymer have made no observations of their own, 

 but quote with approval a letter of Ayres, who says: "The nest 

 is not a premeditated structure, but merely the result of the move- 

 ments of the fish in and about the place selected for spawning, during 

 the period of sexual excitement." Ayers does not quote observations 

 in support of this view. Fulleborn and Dean have found nests prepared 

 in advance of spawning and Dean speaks of nests which were occupied 

 by fish for a number of days before the eggs were deposited. 



Of the twentv-one nests observed bv me in 1898, thirteen are known 

 to have been built in advance of the deposit of the eggs. Eggs were laid 

 in eight of these nests, while five were abandoned without eggs having 

 been laid in them. The interval between the building of the nest and 

 the laying of the eggs varied from fifteen hours to six days, the latter 

 period an unusually long one. 



2. Are the nests made by the male, by the female or by both ? 



The male is distinguishable from the female by a conspicuous orange- 

 bordered black spot on the tail and by green fins. It is possible to dis- 

 tinguish the two at a distance of ten feet. 



Fulleborn observed nests occupied by male fish before spawning, in- 



i-Estes, Dr.: In Halleck's. The Sportsman's Gazette. 



2 Fulleborn, P.: Bericht ueber eine zur Untersuehung von Amia, Lepidosteus und 

 Necturus unternommene Reise nach Nord-America. Sitzungsberichte den Aakad. d. Wiss 

 zu Berlin. XL, pp. 1057-1070. Oct. 25, 1S94. 



-Dean. Bashfoiu: The early development of Amia. Quart. Jour. Micr. Sci. XXXVIII. 

 February, 1896. 



4 Whitman & Evcle^hymer: The Egg of Amia and its Cleavage. Jour. Morphology, 

 Vol. XII, No. 2, 1896. 



