(JASTKR0STET7S ACULHATU9, ETC. 317 



of their crystal abode. Henceforth the parent's assiduity gra- 

 dually relaxed, though for days afterwards it was its custom to 

 take the young occasionally into its mouth, and after carrying 

 them a little distance to let them drop out again. I took one of 

 the fry out one day for examination with the microscope ; on re- 

 turning it to the trough, it was in so sickly a state as to be 

 scarcely able to leave the vessel, which was held in the hand. 

 The old fish, perceiving the helpless condition of its offspring, 

 came up to the surface of the water, and seizing hold of the ex- 

 hausted young one carried it off almost from amidst my fingers, 

 and taking it to some distance puffed it out of its mouth into a 

 tuft of Confervse. This courageous act of our little fish would 

 seem, in some measure, to give credence to the assertion, so fre- 

 quently made, that some of the sharks protect their young by 

 receiving them into the mouth, on the approach of danger. 



Other facts might be related evincing parental attachment ; 

 but perhaps enough has been said to satisfy those, who take an 

 interest in such matters, that in this respect the Three-spined 

 Stickleback is scarcely, if at all, inferior to the hen, whose affec- 

 tionate regard for her offspring has ever been the theme of ad- 

 miration. Incubation, with the fish, is out of the question ; it 

 attends its nest, however, as diligently as any of the feathered 

 tribes, keeping it in constant repair, fanning it with its fins, and 

 removing anything that might obstruct the free action of the 

 water upon the eggs j it defends its young with the same undaun- 

 ted courage, and though it cannot gather them under spreading 

 wings as the hen gathers her brood, yet all those which stray are 

 brought back to the nest, that they may be under the protection 

 of their ever-vigilant and courageous parent. 



The nest of the Fifteen-spined Stickleback (Gasterosteiis spi~ 

 nachia) was first noticed by Mr. Jonathan Couch, on the Cornish 

 coast, in 1842. Since then it has been observed two or three 

 times on the coast of Northumberland. It is composed of pen- 

 dant seaweeds bound together, by a silk-like thread, into pear- 

 shaped or fusiform masses : the spawn is deposited in the centre 

 of the mass. Mr. Couch says, " One of these nests was visited 

 every day for three weeks, and the old fish was found invariably 



