PARENTAL CARE AMONG FRESH-WATER FISHES. 



449 



family exemplified in one ease, the common bag-re of Yucatan. Mr. 

 E. W. Nelson obtained specimens of the fish so named in Yucatan, 

 and it was later found by Evermann and Goldsborouah that the spe- 

 cies was unknown, and they consequently described it as new (in 



Fi<!. ".1. — The Bagre of Yucatan (('oiiorhi/iiclios iwIsohU). After Evcrraaiiii and 



(!oklst)()ruiigli. 



1902), calling it Conorhynehos nelsonii. The accompanying figure 

 will give an idea of what it looks like. It reaches a length of a foot 

 to 18 inches. Two of the males obtained by Nelson had eggs in their 

 mouths, one IG inches long having no less than 39 well-developed 

 ones, and the other a single one. 



SALT-WATER CATFISHES, OR TACHISURINES. 



While most of the catfishes are inhabitants of the fresh water, a 

 few have accommodated themselves to life in the sea, and among 

 such are the Tachisurines or Ariines, mostly called 

 sea catfishes. The chief of these are slender, grace 

 ful fishes, with comparatively small, bony, granu- 

 lated head and six barbels; the anterior and poste- 

 rior nostrils are close together. What is especiall>' 

 remarkable, however, is the fact that of most spe- 

 cies the female lays large eggs the size of a small fk;. oJ. -tiu lia^ru 

 marble which, after fecundation, are taken by a iConor'vynr'.os nd- 



' . sonn) hatching egg. 



male into his mouth and kept there until they are After Evermann and 

 hatched. While such is the case for most species, <'^<^^A,boTough. 

 however, it is not so for all, for several are said to oviposit on the 

 ground and leave the eggs there to be cared for by the males, while 

 one {Galeichthys or Hexanematichthys felis) has been declared to 

 be ovoviviparous; this is the most northern of these fishes and occa- 

 sionally wanders up to Cape Cod. 



THE EOG CAKKIERS. 



AAHien the breeding season has arrived the female gives evidence 

 of it by an increased fullness of the belly, Avhich is the result of the 

 enlargement of maturing or niatured eggs. The ovaries are in a 



