PARENTAL CARE AMONG FRESH- WATER FISHES. 513 



l)y violent jerks of the caudal fin, or are taken up by the mouth and 

 carried to the circular boundary of the nest. An area of fine, clean 

 sand or gravel is generally the result, but not infrequently, according 

 to Dr. Reighard {i?i h'tt.), " the nest bottom is composed of the root- 

 lets of water ])lants.'' The nest has a diameter of about twice the 

 length of the fish. 



Very often, if not generally, the row of nests is in water that 

 rapidly becomes deeper oft'shore, so that if the sunfish is alarmed it 

 may quickly scurry off into deep water, where it remains till the 

 alarm is over. According to Abbott, " the return to the nest is as 

 rapid and direct as the exit. Each fish, wherever it may go, has 

 some point which is recognized as the terminus of the lane leading to 

 the nest, and having found this it speeds up the narrow pathway 

 with incredible velocity, and stops as suddenly just at or in,the nest." " 



To the nest thus formed a female is enticed, who is prepared to 

 make a deposit of her eggs After a longer or shorter courtship, as 

 the case demands, the two come together bringing their bellies close 

 to each other, the male a little behind his mate, and eggs and milt 

 follow each other in rapid succession. The conjunction lasts for 

 about a minute, more or less, and, as a rule, is not repeated very 

 poon after. The viscid eggs as soon as laid fall to the bottom and 

 become attached to the gravel that forms the bottom of the nest. 

 According to Dr. Reighard (m h'tt.) " a female if undisturbed takes 

 about an hour to lay her eggs, though she may frequently during this 

 time leave the nest and return to it again." When the female has 

 completed oviposition, she departs and the male assumes sole charge. 

 The sunfish, however, is not strictly a monogamist,'' and is not always 

 satisfied with the eggs of one female. 



Reighard (1903) has noticed " a case in which an individual male 



«The actions noted l).y Abbott must be manifested only under certain condi- 

 tions. I liave not noticed analogous instances. 



6 Doctor Abbott was doubtless mistaken in supposing (1884) tliat " tbey are 

 not merely paired for the season, but remain a faithful and loving (•oui)le all 

 the year and for several years," and that " in these nests both fishes will often 

 be." In nests familiar to me many years ago I do not recall one with more 

 than a single fish in peaceful possession, and that a male. Until 1880, however, 

 the nest and parental care was entirely credited to the female, or to both. In 

 accounts by Godman (18.S3), Kirtland (185(>), Agasslz (1857). Abbott (1884), 

 and Stone (1889) this idea is assumed as a matter of course. In 1889, however. 

 I urged in Nature (40, 1889, 319) and Forest and Stream (Aug. 8, 1889) that I 

 I)elieved " that the chief or the sole guardian of the eggs after their deposition 

 is the male," as is the case of the Gasterosteids and Silurids (catfishes). That 

 such is the case has been later abundantly jtroved. Reighard recently (190.3) 

 has also stated that " his own unpiiblished observations on Eupoinotis (jibbosici 

 have convinced" him "that, as surmised by Gill (1889), the female takes no 

 part in building the nest or guarding it." 



