THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF AMIA. 417 
the spawning then appeared, and has been almost simul- 
taneous,—a general “run,” after which the season was con- 
cluded by an intermittent spawning, with a nest here and 
there. At the height of a “run” as many as a half-dozen 
nests, as fishermen stated, were found to occur within the space 
of a few square yards. The fish were observed depositing their 
eggs as early as April 25th, and before the Ist of May the 
spawning appeared to have been generally completed. By the 
middle of this month larvae were abundant, and from their 
uniform size in the different localities, and in different lakes, 
the spawning time could have been varied but little throughout 
the entire region.! 
Immediately before spawning it is said that the fish divide 
themselves into parties, each comprising a female and several 
males, and that they then circle about nearer and nearer the 
shallows. A spawning place is selected—a well-sheltered spot 
with a water depth of about a foot—and a nest is there pre- 
pared. And it seems evident that nests are prepared some- 
times well in advance of spawning, for several were noted by 
the writer which were occupied by the fish for a number of days 
before the eggs were deposited. The mode of building a nest 
is in some ways doubtful: fishermen state that the spawning 
party prepares it by constant circlings before the time of 
spawning, and this view seems entirely corroborated by a care- 
ful examination of the newly made nest; the soft weeds and 
rootlets appear bent and brushed aside in a way that gives it 
somewhat the appearance of a crudely finished bird’s-nest. 
The mode of depositing the eggs appears to be entirely 
similar to that described by the present writer in the case of 
the gar-pike. The spawning fish leave the nest from time to 
time, returning in company. The eggs and milt are emitted 
simultaneously. The fishes apparently rub closely together, 
since scales are found scattered in the nest bottoms, as noted 
by Filleborn, and now confirmed by the present writer. The 
eges become instantly adhesive, sticking to any portion of the 
1 The present writer finds the spawning region very general: nests were 
found in La Belle Lake (cf. Filleborn, op. cit. p. 1059). 
