PARENTAL CARE AMONG FRESH-WATER FISHES. 431 



limit livery; all their fins become a bright green and of the same hue 

 as the iDond plants among which they rove; the bronze of the l)ack 

 and sides is furbished up; the stripes on the cheeks show in bolder 

 relief, and above all the spots at the base of the caudal fin grow 

 vividly distinct; the spot of each side culminates in being velvety 

 black, and its surrounding ring is of a bright orange or yellow color. 



Striking and glaring as is the color of a male fish when isolated, it 

 is quite otherwise when amid his natural surroundings. Then, 

 Reighard testifies, " one is struck by certain resemblances between 

 his colors and those of surrounding objects. All his fins are of a 

 green like that of the aquatic vegetation and blend with it readily. 

 The reticular markings on his sides bear a close resemblance to the 

 shadows cast by the intercrossing leaves of the vegetation floating 

 at or near the surface." This resemblance is so close that Reighard, 

 ■' after prolonged examination at a distance of a foot or two,'' was 

 unable to determine with certainty " which of the reticulations on 

 the side of the male were due to pigment and which were shadows. 

 They could only be distinguished through some slight movement of 

 the fish. Moreover, the tail-spot bears a striking resemblance to cer- 

 tain refraction images that are commonly seen on the bottom in shal- 

 low Avater." 



In April the mating is generally at its height. Males and females 

 seek each other. Both resort to places fit for their future functions. 

 Reighard tells that '' the localities selected for nests are quiet bays or 

 inlets, well-grown with water-plants and affording shelter for the 

 nests in the form of stumps, bushes or fallen trees. Those localities 

 are preferred in which the removal of the growing vegetation leaves 

 a thick mat of fibrous rootlets for the bottom of the nest." Each 

 nest is a saucerlike excavation from 1 to 3 feet in diameter and 

 from 4 to 8 inches deep. The bottom of the excavation is usually of 

 the kind of fibrous roots just noticed, " which, freed of all earth, 

 form a thick spongy mass. Sometimes, however, the bottom is of 

 gravel or sand, or even of black loam, and in tAvo cases "" observed by 

 Reighard, it was of " the dead, brown, water-soaked stems or leaves 

 of cattail or other similar water plants.'" Of course there are still 

 other variants from the average nest. 



The male unaided constructs a nest, and, according to Reighard, 

 " Avorks chiefly by night, not by day." There are, however, some 

 exceptions, and Reighard records that "^ a half-completed nest found 

 at i) a. m. on Aj^ril 23 was found completed in the afternoon of the 

 same day." Reighard Avas convinced '* that the nude uses the snout 

 in making the nests " from " the fact that in the nesting season the 

 snout of the male is frequently coA^ered Avith scratches Avhere the 

 epidermis has been removed, and the underlying connectiA'e tissue 

 shows Avhite beneath it. Probably the male in building the nest 



