180 LUMPFISH. 



were of a beautiful pink colour, lying apparently loose in the 

 bag of the ovarium, as not attached to its sides, and only 

 slightly to each other by means of a very fine filmy thread. 

 Mr. Thompson informs us that in a fish fifteen inches long he 

 found twenty-five ounces of roe, of which he weighed a drachm, 

 and from this quantity calculated that the number of the whole 

 was very nearly a hundred and two thousand grains. In 

 another instance we are told that what was collected after they 

 were shed in a prepared place of deposit, amounted by 

 measure to seven quarts; but it is obvious that this large 

 quantity must have greatly exceeded the ordinary bulk of the 

 parent fish; and yet we must not conclude that it was pro- 

 duced by more than one female, but rather that after exclusion 

 the grains had swollen greatly by the absorption of water, as 

 is known to be the case with the frog and other creatures 

 which shed their spawn in watery places. It seems certain 

 that a cavity is formed, which has been termed a nest, for the 

 reception of this treasure, and it is not improbable that the 

 sucking organ is of some service in this important operation. 

 But in addition to the instinctive intelligence which this implies, 

 a hisrh decree of conscious feelinar has also been ascribed to 

 both the parents, in which, indeed, the male is said to exceed 

 the female. 



The French naturalist Lacepede refers in a florid manner 

 to this supposed trait of character, in a class of animals which 

 generally have been judged greatly deficient in this particular; 

 and which in the Lumpfish is said to be not only shewn in 

 providing a nest, but in carefully watching over the development 

 of the young, as well after as before their escape from the 

 egg, so as not to suffer an enemy to molest them. A similar 

 tenderness has been said to exist also between the parents 

 themselves, whose attachment to each other is thought as 

 lasting as their lives, if, indeed, any human being can be 

 supposed to have had an opportunity of witnessing the con- 

 tinuance of such an union. And yet the whole of this is not 

 romance; for besides the formation of what may be termed 

 a nest, which is placed not fir from low-water mark, and 

 in which they are more than imitated by several other fishes; 

 both the parents have been seen to manifest considerable 

 anxiety when watched and disturbed during the continuance ol 



