LEAVES FROM MY NOTE-BOOK. 157 



Paradise Fish. — I have read an account in an American 

 Magazine of the so-called " Paradise Fish " of Japan, but I can 

 find no account of it in any work I possess. It seems from its 

 habits to be a species of Stickleback {Gasterosteiis). At the 

 mating season, the male, which is ordinarily of a dull silver hue, 

 exhibits brilliant stripes of red, blue, and green, its ventral fins 

 showing streaks of brightest orange ; hence, doubtless, the Paradise 

 Fish has acquired its name. It breeds freely in confinement, and 

 requires no change of water in the globe or aquarium except 

 enough to make up for evaporation. It is very tame and " sur- 

 prisingly intelligent," and its habits at the breeding season render 

 it a pecuharly amusing pet. 



When the female is about to lay her eggs, the male fish makes 

 a nest at the bottom of the water composed entirely of air-bubbles. 

 For this purpose he swallows air and ejects it in the shape of 

 bubbles, which are held and made permanent by glutinous capsules 

 from a secretion in the fish's mouth. When the female lays her 

 eggs she would devour them immediately, but the male will not 

 permit her to do so. He takes them in his mouth, and going 

 beneath the nest ejects them, when they rise and find a resting- 

 place amongst the bubbles. Or, sometimes, he will conduct his 

 mate under the nest, so that the eggs as she lays them will ascend 

 and lodge in the nest. The laying being concluded, and all the 

 eggs disposed of in this manner, he keeps guard at the nest, not 

 allowing the female to approach it, and even attacking her fiercely 

 if she makes the attempt. At the same time, he occupies himself 

 continuously in making fresh bubbles of air in the place of those 

 that burst, and at intervals he spouts streams of air all round the 

 nest, apparently for the purpose of keeping it thoroughly aerated. 

 After about five days, during which this performance is kept up, 

 the young are hatched out. They cannot swim, but cling like little 

 tadpoles to the bubbles. If one falls to the bottom, as happens 

 every now and then, the father fish darts after it, takes it in his 

 mouth, and conveys it beneath the nest, where he disgorges it 

 among the bubbles again. Thus the Paradise Fish continues to 

 take care of its offspring for several weeks. 



Everyone knows of the Water Spider, which makes a little 

 diving-bell of bubbles of air, in which she lives quite dry and spins 



