PARENTAL CARE AMONG FRESH-WATER FISHES. 



501 



the same manner, as densely packed as possible. When she has thus collected 

 the troop round her, she suddenly deals a blow that scatters the whole crowd 

 in an instant. This sport is often repeated, but the rapidity with which they 

 disperse renders it impossible to observe whether it is always the same female 

 that takes the lead or whether they change places. These operations are con- 

 tinued as long as the sun is high in the heavens, for four to six days, according 

 to the weather. It seems more than probable that during these evolutions the 

 females lose some roe, which adheres to water plants, and that this is fertil- 

 ized by the males that, perhaps only for the time being, have not built any nest 

 for the eggs. Benecke has also ascertained that under certain circumstances — 

 as, for example, when he finds a suitable crevice or secluded nook among the 

 water plants — the male does not build any nest, properly so called. Thus 

 we have to deal with two methods of spawning in which the eggs are de- 

 veloped where they fall, among the 

 water plants, and the more connubial 

 method in which the eggs are devel- ;' 



oped in a nest made by the male. 

 But in any case the nest building is 

 one of the most interesting parts of 

 the life of the three-spined stickle- 

 back, and one which many have been 

 in a position to observe. 



One of the fullest and best 



considered, as well as earliest of 



the accounts of the habits of 



the stickleback was published in 



1854 by Albany Hancock, in 



" Observations on the nidifica- 



tion of Gasterostens aculeafn.s 



and Gasterosteus spinachla.,''^ in 



the Transactions of the Tyneside 



Naturalists' Field Club for 1851- 



1854 ( Vol. II, pp. 312-317) . He 



l)rovided an aquarium in May 



and — 



Into this new home were put four *"!«. .HL-Xhree-sphied sticklebiuk male laying the 

 „ ^.,,, . r ■,,., foundation of his nest. Alter Coste. 



or live sticklebacks, [and] they at 



once made themselves perfectly at ease. One. without the least hesitation, took 

 possession of a certain spot, which it guarded with the greatest pertinacity, 

 attacking vigorously any of its companions that might happen to approach the 

 chosen locality. The beetle, too, which sometimes came slowly paddling by, was 

 pounced upon and unceremoniously tumbled over: but secure within his scaly 

 armor, as the knights of old. he little heeded the onslaught of his naked assail- 

 ant, so overpowering all opposition he scrambled onward in his undeviating 

 path. 



This fish was rather small, had the throat of a bright red colour and the eyes 

 of a brilliant bluish-green. At first, all the others were pale: but in the course 

 of a few days one of them gradually assumed the rich hues of that just de- 

 scribed, and soon afterwards it also became attached to a sjiot. taking up its 

 abode iu oue of the corners of the trough. Ou examining attentively the two 



