Some Peculiar if ies of the Ova of Fishes. 85 



others have their heads turned toward the mouth of the parent 

 and do not quit the sheltering cavity till they are about four inches 

 long. 



Prof. Jefifries Wyman, of Boston, describes a singular contrivance 

 of a species of armored catfish (^Aspredo') of South America. The 

 male fish is provided, during the breeding season, with a numerous 

 series of Httle stalks on the under surface of the abdomen, upon 

 which the eggs are received and carried until hatched. 



In the well-known Hippocampus, or sea-horse, a pouch is devel- 

 oped in the male, under the tail, in which the ova are placed and 

 finally hatched, the young escaping through a small opening in the 

 anterior part of the pouch. In the pipefish {Siphostoma) a similar 

 pouch is developed in the male for the same purpose, but is formed 

 by a fold of skin from each side of the trunk and tail, the free margins 

 being united in the median line. In another allied fish {Solenos- 

 ioma) the inner borders of the ventral fins unite with the skin of 

 the body and form a large pouch for the reception of the eggs, 

 where they are retained by numerous filaments arranged along the 

 ventral rays. 



In another queer species called the lumpsucker {^Cyclopterus 

 Iiwtpus), the male digs a pit between the stones of the bottom of 

 shallow portions of the sea, in which the female deposits several 

 hundred thousands of eggs, which are tenderly watched over by the 

 male until they are hatched, when the young attach themselves 

 by their suckers to the body of the male, who carries them about 

 with him until they are able to care for themselves. 



It is worthy of notice that, in every instance mentioned of the 

 ova being guarded and cared for, or transported in various 

 receptacles on the body of the parent, it is the male fish that 

 performs these various duties. The part of the female in the repro- 

 duction of its species seems to end with the deposition of the ova. 



