GASTEROSTEUS ACULEATUS, ETC. 315 



rush in upon its opponent and butt at it with its head, apparently 

 endeavouring to bite ; the other, rallying, returned the compli- 

 ment, and after dashing at each other in this way two or three 

 times, with extraordinary rapidity, the round would terminate, 

 and each fish retreat to its nest, to recommence its more imme- 

 diate nidimental duties. 



The fry were at first so minute and transparent that they 

 could scarcely be discerned as they lay partially concealed amid 

 the meshes of the nest : every now and then a slight fluttering 

 motion betrayed their position, otherwise it was almost impos- 

 sible to distinguish them. As I was closely watching their mo- 

 tions, at this time, one of the newly hatched Ashlings, with 

 intrepidity beyond its experience, ventured to pass the limits of 

 its cradle : in an instant the watchful parent was there, and with 

 gaping mouth seized the little wanderer, which immediately dis- 

 appeared, the jaws having closed upon it. Seeing this, I at once 

 gave up the fry for lost, deeming that here was an instance of 

 instinct at fault, and that all the affectionate solicitude of the 

 parent was to end in its devouring its ofl'spring. In this I was 

 mistaken : the old fish, quietly returning, dropped the straggler 

 into its nest lively and uninjured. During the whole of this day 

 none of the fry were permitted to ramble beyond the precincts 

 of their fold ; when any attempted to do so — and many did at- 

 tempt — they were invariably brought back in the mouth of the 

 parent : none escaped its vigilant eye, and it was amusing to see 

 with what a hurried, fluttering motion the little things dropped 

 almost perpendicularly down into the nest, so soon as they were 

 released from the jaws of the parent. 



It was three days before all the eggs were hatched, and the 

 attention of the parent, during, all this time, was unremitting. 

 On the second day, I marked its manoeuvres for five minutes, and 

 found that, in this short period, it ventilated the nest eight times, 

 warded off" an attack of the neighbouring fish, and brought back 

 to the nest a straggler or two. During this day the spawn was 

 frequently examined by the parent, who would occasionally seize 

 hold of it and give it a good shake ; apparently for the purpose 

 of throwing off adherent matter, that the water might freely cir- 



