ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



343 



small surface life, although the seals dissected 

 were taken at points where the depth was less 

 than loo fathoms, and where codfish were 

 abundant at the bottom. 



The Valparaiso-Iquique cable was laid on 

 January 27, 1906. At first sight it seems un- 

 likely that the whale entangled in this cable 

 could have remained eight months without 

 complete disintegration or being gradually 

 consumed by small forms of life on the bottom. 

 The deep sea, however, is intensely cold, the 

 temperature being close to the freezing point of 

 fresh water, and the carcass, unless actively 

 attacked by bottom life, might be expected to 

 last longer than in the warmer surface waters. 



Since, from what we know of air-breathing 

 animals, it is unlikely that the whale would 

 descend 400 fathoms of its own accord, and as 

 a deep-sea cable is not laid very slack, it is 

 doubtful that the whale could have fouled it at 

 the bottom. 



The logical conclusion is, that it became en- 

 tangled during the laying of the cable, eight 

 months before, when there was a considerable 

 length of it in suspension. The twisted con- 

 dition of the stiff and heavy cable about the 

 animal shows that the energy expended in the 

 vain efliort to free itself must have been enor- 

 mous. 



There are several well authenticated in- 

 stances of sub-marine cables interrupted by 

 whales, one having been described by Gen. 

 Greely in the Alaska cable between St. 

 Michaels and Nome. In this case the whale 

 fouled the cable in comparatively shallow 

 water. Cables can not always be laid perfectly 

 flat on the bottom, since they are probably sus- 

 pended for short distances between sub-marine 

 ridges. 



FISHES WHICH DEFEND THEIR 

 YOUNG. 



AMOXG the native fresh-water fishes now 

 /A in the Aquarium, which have the habit 

 of making nests and caring for their 

 eggs and young, are the black and rock-basses, 

 several species of sunfishes, crappies, catfishes, 

 sticklebacks, and the bowfin or mudfish. The 

 marine species which exercise guardianship 

 over their progeny are at present represented 

 by the sea-horse, pipefish, and sea-catfish. 



Fishes were long credited with indifference 

 to the fate of their young after the eggs had 

 been deposited, but we now know that the 

 number of those which actively protect their 

 nests, and for a time at least keep their young 

 together, is very great. 



Since the care of eggs and young is prac- 

 ticed by the fresh-water species mentioned, 

 which happen to be food fishes, it appears that 

 we are indebted to the modern fish-culturist 

 for much of what we know about them. The 

 keeping of such fishes in ponds has resulted in 

 a closer observation of their habits, than was 

 practicable before fish-culture became a com- 

 mon industry. It is in fact, only a few years 

 since it was demonstrated that in the case of 

 the black basses, the male fish is the protector 

 of the nest, rather than the female. 



The nest-building tendency of fishes is not 

 often manifested by them in the tanks at the 

 Aquarium. Their quarters are necessarily re- 

 stricted and the crowding of specimens makes 

 the conditions unnatural. Occasionally, how- 

 ever, mature sunfishes make attempts at nest 

 building, one or two fishes settling down to the 

 bottom of the tank where they soon work out 

 a saucer-like depression in the gravel. Their 

 constant excitement, caused by the driving oflf 

 of other fishes which may descend too near 

 them, soon breaks up the attempts at pairing. 



The care of the eggs and young by stickle- 

 backs of different species is well known, as 

 these fishes have long been under observation 

 as aquarium pets. The nest of the stickleback 

 is an unusually elaborate one constructed by 

 the male, who also protects the eggs and 

 _\-oung. 



It is believed that the nests of the basses, 

 crappies, and sunfishes are hollowed in the 

 sand or gravel by the male fish. After 

 the female has spawned she deserts the 

 nest, the male fish ^remaining on guard many 

 days fanning the eggs with his fins, keeping 

 them clear of sediment, and actively driving 

 away intruders of all species. When the young 

 rise from the nest they are herded together for 

 some days until active enough to strike out for 

 themselves. 



Our native sunfishes are so abundant every- 

 where and lay their eggs in such shallow water, 

 that their nest-protecting habits are well 

 known. 



A good account of the sunfish and its nest, 

 written nearly seventy years ago by Thoreau, 

 may be found in the second chapter of "A 

 Week on the Concord and Merrimac River," 

 and will prove to be pleasant reading. 



Several species of our native catfishes are 

 known to care for their eggs and young, and 

 it is not unlikely that all of them do so. The 

 common catfish or bullhead, (Aineiimis nebu- 

 losus), makes a depression in the ground not 

 unlike that formed by the basses and sunfishes, 

 the male being sometimes the only active party 



