32 FISH HATCHING. 



much scratched and scarred. May not the 

 injured state of the head be accounted for by 

 their coming in contact ^^'ith stones in their 

 headlong assaults ? 



" I -will mention one other thing I have ob- 

 served. The female fish does not first deposit 

 her spawn and then leave it to be impreg- 

 nated by the male ; the male cares nothing 

 for the spawn, except to eat it ; his object is to 

 be with the female, for the protection of whom 

 he will fight as long as he is able. The spawn- 

 ing process is carried on in this manner : — 

 The female works away at the ridd, and after 

 she has made a kind of trough she lies in it 

 quite still ; the male — who, during the time 

 she is w^orking, is carrying on a constant war 

 —comes up, enters the trough, and assists the 

 female in her efforts to deposit the spawn in 



