THE SMALL GAME FISHES 129 



here and there the entire length of the fish, making it 

 a most gorgeous creature. The long vibrating dorsal 

 fin was erect, and the fish was unusually alert as if 

 sensible of the importance of the situation and its 

 responsibilities. 



In the tank were several small bunches of a deep 

 maroon seaweed four or five inches high; and, as I 

 watched the female, she approached the weed and 

 appeared to examine it, passing around it several 

 times. Then I saw that her ventral surface was 

 pressed against the weed, and its branches were being 

 caught together by a viscid pure white cord having 

 the diameter of a thick thread. It clung tenaciously 

 to every branch it touched. Along the cord were 

 large numbers of small eggs. When four or five inches 

 of the cord had been attached, the fish would rest, 

 the male taking her place and hovering over the eggs, 

 which he guarded with a viciousness altogether unex- 

 pected in so small a fish. He withdrew when his mate 

 resumed egg-laying. She frequently pushed her way 

 through the clump of weed, but more often passed 

 around it, the silken tenacious cord binding it together 

 in a globular or oval mass about the size of a hen's 

 egg. The entire nest was formed in about two hours, 

 the fish dropping to the bottom of the tank after each 

 effort and lying there for ten or twenty minutes. I 

 obtained a successful photograph of this nest. 



The fishes occurring here that are not game or 

 caught on lines are practically innumerable, and some 

 of them are of the greatest interest. By the courtesy 

 of the Banning Company of Avalon I have made some 

 interesting observ^ations in the little zoological station, 

 and a number of fishes found there have been pro- 



