PARENTAL CARE AMONG FRESH-WATER FISHES. 



471 



characters. This larger size of the male than the femak^ is, in fact, 

 the rule among fishes \Yhen the male is distinguished by salient charac- 

 ters, such as increase of armature or brilliancy of coloration. (See 

 p. 409.) 



Practically nothing exact is known respecting the breeding habits 

 of any of the species of the family, but doubtless they will be found to 

 be of extreme interest if we may credit the ideas of Prof. Louis 

 Agassiz. That eminent naturalist, during his ichtlwological explora- 

 tion of the Amazon in 18G5, made certain observations which should 

 stir up naturalists of tropical America, where species of the genera so 

 abound, to make diligent hunt for them during the breeding season. 

 According to Agassiz, some of the Loricariw carry their eggs in folds 

 of their everted lips, while others, of the genera PlecoHtom^is or 

 Hyj)osto7rms, actually sit upon their eggs like birds. These state- 

 ments were made in a letter to Milne Edwards from Manaos, Brazil, 

 and published in the Annales des Sciences Naturelles (5. ser., Zool., t. 

 .5, p. 228) . Agassiz's exact words are : " D'autres especes portent leurs 

 cBufs dans les plis de leurs levres, telles sont les Loricaires; d'autres 

 les convent comme les Oiseaux, tels sont les Hypostomes.'' It is prob- 

 able that the Hypostomes or Plecostomes, like the American catfishes, 

 may really rest upon or close to their eggs for a time, but frequently 

 rise above to fan and agitate them to give them the benefit of fresh 

 air. 



Hciul alxive. 



l.i|.> 1.1 u\-aW 



Lips of rt'iuale. 

 Figs. 4G, 47, 48. — Loricarin spixH. After Steindachner. 



No further information was published by Agassiz respecting the 

 oviposition or embryology of any Loricariid. Only an incidental 

 reference to the rearing of the 3'Oung of Syngnathicls is given in his 

 Journey in Brazil (18G8, p. 239), and the remark is added that " it is 

 only matched by the equally curious incubation of the eggs in Lon- 

 caria.''' F. Steindachner, however, in 1881, in his descrij^tion of the 

 Loricaria spiivil, noticed the great develojimcnt of the hinder or 

 lower lip, especially in the male during the breeding season, and the 



