PISHES. 281 



following day it was more than half corapleted. It took 

 a mouthfall at a time, and was at some pains in adjusting 

 each load, and spreading the materials out, and pressing 

 them down with its mouth ; it then drew its body slowly 

 over the whole, vibrating all the time, in the same peculiar 

 manner as when it forced its way through the nest as before 

 stated/' 



When the young fry began to appear and flit about the 

 sides of the nest, the parent's assiduity increased. When 

 the little innocents endeavoured, too young and inexperi- 

 enced, to wander from the precincts of the castle, they were 

 actually caught, swallowed, brought back, and redeposited 

 in safety. But it required the mother's unremitting exer- 

 tions for several days after the fry was hatched, to keep 

 them within bounds, so as to preserve them from danger. 

 The old fish frequently took the young ones into its mouth 

 to preserve them, and once did so almost from the hand of 

 the observer, who had taken it up, and, after swimming 

 about with it, blew it out in a thicket of confervse. 



Platessa vulgaris. — (Plate XV.) 



Mr. Gosse remarks of flat-fish generally, that, " though 

 easily caught, they are of little value, for they do not live 



