418 



PARENTAL CARE AMONG PRESH-WATER PiSHEg. 



The nests and eggs of the Protoptere were looked for for a long- 

 time before they were found. At length Mr. J. S. Budgett, in 1901, 

 had the good fortune to find them during his expedition to the 





' i) ■' // . 



Fig. 0. — Nest of the Protoptcnis of the Gambia. After Budgett. 



Gambia region. One day his native head fisherman, Sory, ap- 

 proached him " in a great state of excitement to say that he had 

 found the children of the cambona," the native name of the Pro- 

 toptere. " It was scorching mid-day, in the height of the rainy 

 season, the temperature 1)9° in the shade.'' But Budgett hastened 

 to the swamp, and " there, about 10 yards from the water's edge, 

 on dry ground, was an oval-shaped hole filled with water, and in the 

 water was a great commotion, the surface of the water being con- 



c. op. ys. pi 



Fig. 10. — Larval Protopierus on the seventeenth day. c, Cement organ ; c.(j, cutaneous 

 gill ; op, operculum ; p.\, pectoral limb; pv.l, pelvic limb; y.s, yolk-sac. After Budgett. 



tinually lashed from side to side by the tail of a cambona, the head of 

 which was way down under the ground. On being startled the 

 cambona disappeared downward, and the fisherman putting his 

 hand into the hole drew forth a handful of larval Protopteri." 

 Having learned where to look for nests, Budgett found no difficulty 

 in finding others and sup]3lying himself with material. 



Special care is taken of the young. " Throughout the period of 

 the larva? being in the nest, the male Protoptcrus stays Avith them and 



