320 MR. HANCOCK ON THE NIDIFICATION, ETC. 



species inhabiting the Black Sea : but in none, so far as I am 

 aware, has parental attachment been observed to equal that evin- 

 ced by the Three-spined Stickleback. Yet we must not, therefore, 

 conclude that it does not exist to the same extent in others of 

 the finny tribes. The habits of these animals are very little 

 known ; and who can say what time may bring to light respecting 

 the economy of the inhabitants of the deeper regions of the sea ! 

 It is only, as it were, the other day that nothing was known of 

 the nidification of the Three-spined Stickleback, — a resident of 

 almost every pool, river, and rivulet in the kingdom. 



P.S. — Since the above paper was read, I find I am wrong in 

 assuming that Mr J. Couch is the author of the Memoir on the 

 Nidification of the Fifteen-spined Stickleback, which was pub- 

 lished in the Transactions of the Royal Institution of Cornwall ; 

 this memoir is, I am informed, from the pen of Mr. R. Q. Couch. 

 Not being able to refer to these transactions, I quoted from the 

 "Illustrations of Instinct," the work of the former gentleman ; 

 and in it the author's name, of the communication in question, is 

 not given. Mr. R. Q. Couch has assured me that he still enter- 

 tains the opinion he originally expressed, that the nest described 

 by him really belongs to the Eifteen-spined Stickleback. 



I have also recently ascertained that so far back as 1839, Dr. 

 Johnston described the nest of this fish, in the Transactions of the 

 Berwickshire Naturalists' Club. In the Doctor's communication 

 it is stated that, " In an early volume of the ' Edinburgh Philo- 

 sophical Journal,' there is a slight notice of fishes' nests found on 

 the coast of Berwickshire, by Admiral Milne ; but the species of 

 fish, by whom they are constructed, is not mentioned." And it is 

 further stated that, " Mr. Duncan, of Eyemouth, has ascertained 

 that they belong to the Fifteen-spined Stickleback, a fact con- 

 firmed by the Rev. Mr. Turnbull, to whom the Club is indebted for 

 specimens." The nest and habits of the fish are then accurately 

 described j and in a concluding note it is announced that Mr. 

 Maclaren, of Coldinghame, had seen and watched the Stickleback 

 in the act of making the nests. 



It would therefore appear that the credit is due to these gentle- 



