PAEENTAL CARE AMONG FKESH-WATER FISHES. 467 



in an aquariuni; and they comnuMiccd to make a nest in June. One 

 Ijegnn on June (> and another on June I) '" they soon pulled to pieces. 

 On the night of the 11th they began a new one. It consisted of pieces 

 of VaUs7ieria, all the leaves of the Nymphxea that were growing in 

 the tank, which they bit off close to the roots of the plants, and a 

 great quantity of river moss {Forit'/ndHs aufipi/retlca), each piece be- 

 ing two or three times the size of the fish, so that they must have had 

 hard work to bring them to the surface. They worked these ma- 

 terials together b}' some mncons substance until the outside was hard, 

 the whole being under a quarter of an inch thick. They next buoyed 

 up the structure with a quantity of mucous foam until it was raised 

 3^ inches above the water. The whole nest was 9 inches long and 7 

 inches Avide, and somewhat resembled a finger glass turned upside 

 down on the top of the water, with the interior filled with froth." 



The jirocess of oviposition is especially interesting and is essentially 

 the same as in a distant relative — the Corydoras — which otherwise 

 differs much in habits. According to Vipan, the fish kept swinnning 

 close under the nest, " all the time on their backs, and filling it with 

 foam. AMien finished, on the 12th, the female shed her spawn be- 

 tween her ventral fins, which were clasped tight together, and when 

 full swam to the nest, and, turning on her back, deposited the spawn 

 'n it. This occurred several times, the male each time putting the 

 ?pawn in its proper place and covering it with froth." 



The subsecpient behavior of the pair must either vary considerably 

 or one of the observers must have assumed more than was justifiable. 



After the nest is made the female deposits her eggs in it. Then, 

 according to Hancock, she stays about it and shares with her mate 

 the care of it. The two, says he, "remain by the side of the nest till 

 the spawn is hatched with as much solicitude as a hen guards her 

 eggs, both the male and female hassar — for they are monogamous — 

 steadily watching the spawn and courageously attacking any assail- 

 ant." This devotion is often taken unfair advantage of by the 

 negroes and the fishes are caught by them '"by putting theii' hands 

 into the water close to the nest, on agitating which the male hassar 

 springs furiously at them and is thus captured." 



Captain Vipan's account is more consistent with the facts known 

 respecting the care of the nests by other fishes by the father fish only. 

 According to him, " as soon as the female had dropped all her spawn 

 the male took entire possession of the nest and would not let his mate 

 go anywhere near it, and treated her so badly that " he '* had to place 

 her in another tank to save her life. Unfortunately the spawn was 

 not good, only a few eggs hatching and the young fishes dving soon 

 afterwards." ' 



The only other Callichthyid whose breeding haluts have been 

 described is a vspecies of the gemis Corydoras. This has been estal)- 



