192 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 
and crowd her close on the shore, at the same time bending his 
body in a somewhat undulated fashion with the brilliant dorsal 
fin thrown over her back, and then with a rapid flapping of his 
tail, which produces a rippling sound in the water, the milt is 
apparently expelled. ‘This operation lasts but several seconds, 
and sometimes the participants find themselves washed on shore, 
when there is a very hurried attempt to get back into the water. 
All along these banks we could hear these little ripplings and see 
the fish wriggling back into the water. Sometimes copulation 
would take place entirely under the water on the little shoals. It 
did not appear that it was always necessary for these animals to 
have a projection or some support of a similar nature from the 
bottom to enable them to successfully accomplish their purpose. 
In fact, they would frequently fasten alongside one another on a 
perfectly smooth bottom, in which case the male would apparently 
crowd the female down. I was unable to determine the manner 
of coupling, if such takes place, of the organs of generation. 
Examples freshly caught would produce milt or ova, as the sex 
of the individual may be, if they were forced out by pressure on 
the abdomen with the thumb. ‘The milt was purely white and 
milky. The ova was about the size of number 4 shot, translucent, 
and of a very pale brownish. No male organ of generation was 
noted. The female has the oviduct extending along the front of 
the anal fin nearly to its lower margin, and the ova could be 
forced through it only in regular sequence. When in the water 
the two sexes are readily recognized, as they are very distinctly 
marked. The males are blackish, and are decidedly black in 
contrast alongside the pale brownish females. Rather small 
males, of about 2 inches in length, display the dark and brilliant 
colors of the older ones. The females were frequently seen swim- 
ming to and fro over the shallows, suddenly inclining their bodies 
somewhat on the side so that their shining whitish abdomens may 
be readily seen. I did not determine whether the eggs were laid 
simply awaiting the initiative of the male. The intercourse 
between the sexes was in some cases I noted confined to a single 
pair, though mostly it seemed to be promiscuous. In fact, these 
animals seemed to have nearly unlimited powers of intercourse. 
