FIFTEEN-SPINED STICKLEBACK. 181 



unsuspected prcfteeding appear to have been entertained in 

 Scotland; but the subject was prosecuted with greater care 

 and success in Cornwall, by Mr. Richard Q. Couch, who, 

 however, underwent the fate of many other discoverers, in 

 having the fi'uit of his researches stolen from him into a 

 foreign language without acknowledgment; to be translated 

 back into English by one who was ignorant of the fact that 

 he was doing no more than bringing into his own country what 

 in truth had before been filched away from it. 



The places selected for these nests are usually in harbours 

 or some recess near the open sea, where, with the presence of 

 the pure water of the ocean, there is shelter from the open 

 violence of the waves. Sometimes they hang in pools of the 

 rocks, but it is not rare to find them between tidemai'ks, 

 where they are left uncovered by the tide for two or three 

 hours. The moisture of the materials appears sufficient to save 

 the grains of spawn from suffering injury by this exposure. 



The method of proceeding in forming these nests appears to 

 be that the fish either find growing, or, certainly in some 

 instances, collect together some of the softer kinds of green or 

 red sea-weeds, and join them with so much of the coralline 

 tufts (Janiee) growing on the rock as will serve the purpose 

 of affording firmness to the structure, and constitute a mass 

 five or six inches long, of a pear-like shape, and about as 

 stout as a man's fist. A thread is employed with much skill 

 and patience in binding these materials together; and there is 

 no doubt that its substance is obtained from the creature's 

 own body. It much resembles silk, and is elastic. Under a 

 good magnifier it appears to be formed of several smaller 

 threads glued together, and it hardens into firmness by 

 exposure to the water. But there is reason to believe that it 

 is not exuded, nor the roe deposited, all at once; for as it 

 is passed through the mass with intricacy in various directions, 

 the roe appears in little clumps, which are in different degrees 

 of development. 



The grains are of large size in proportion to the magnitude 

 of the fish, and of a bright amber colour. They are watched 

 over by the parent — in every case, I believe, by the male — 

 who never long quits his station; but an instance has occurred 

 where two fishes have been engaged in attending one nest; 



VOL. T. 2D 



