530 PARENTAL CARE AMONG FRESH-WATER FISHES. 



island 8 centimeters in diameter. Tlie bulibles of air are not coated with a 

 greasy liquid as in the case of the fish of paradise, Macropodus virkli-aiiratus ; 

 all those which approach sutliciently to touch, unite together and fuse into one. 



The next day the male continues his provision of air, which he now accumu- 

 lates towards the central i)oint. These bubbles exert a pressvu'e from below 

 upwards, the conse(iuence of which is the elevation of the vegetable disk, which, 

 issuing from the water, becomes converted into a sort of a dome floating on the 

 surface. 



The nest being completed outwardly, the fish busies himself with giving it 

 a firmness which may protect it fi'om shipwreck. With this view, he creeps 

 upon it in all directions and glides over its walls to smooth the surfaces; he 

 forcibly presses this felt with his muzzle and his chest. If one of the twigs 

 is too prominent, he seizes it and removes it or, by means of successive pushes 

 vtith his head, forces it into the interior. It is by turning and pressing the wall 

 from all sides that he succeeds in rounding it nicely. 



The protective roof being finished, the male plays about the female, shows 

 her the brilliancy of his dress, touches her with his appendages, and seems to 

 invite her to follow him. The female then soon enters the nest. While she is 

 feeling its walls and examining its arrangements, the male, bent horizontally 

 under the entrance, turns spirally upon himself, throwing towards the summit 

 of the edifice the lustre of his many-coloured tints. 



Speedily the female approaches the male with confidence; she applies her 

 head near the extremity of his anal fin, and thus traverses it as far as the 

 origin of the filaments ; then she bends into a semicircle. The male fish, by 

 a like inflexion of his body, embraces her. turns her over, and presses her side, 

 an operation the resvdt of which is a first emission of ova. These, from their 

 lightness, tend of themselves to rise : but with a foresight which can not he 

 too much admired, the male, in pressing the female, forms, by means of his 

 dorsal fin, a concave fold, a receptacle in which the ova undergo the contact of 

 the fecundating principles. Soon after there is a new visit of the female and a 

 fresh approximation of the male until the ovaries are completely evacuated. 



The spawning over, the female quits the conjugal roof, leaving to the male the 

 care of rearing the family, a task of which he acquits himself with a truly 

 paternal zeal. Collecting with his mouth the ova scattered through the plant, 

 he raises them into the nest and arranges them in orderly fashion ; if they are 

 too much agglomerated, he separates them by a movement of the head and com- 

 pels them to remain in the same plane; then he issues from the nest, and sets 

 himself with great activity to contract the entrance. When this operation is 

 completed, he goes away and swims round his edifice to exannne the whole, and 

 not without anxiety, for he often gcres to fetch fresh bubbles of air. which he 

 places intentionally under doubtful points or under menaced parts. 



After seventy hours of incul)ation, the male, foreseeing that the ova require 

 fresh care and quite a different medium, ascends in the nest and pierces its 

 summit; the air l)ubbles escape and the dome immediately flattens upon the 

 water, imprisoning all the embryos, the existence of which begins to be manifest. 



Fearing lest the young should escape his care, he sets to work to make a new 

 barrier for them. For this purpose he follows and traverses the outer margin 

 of the floating carpet, and indling at it with force, separates it from the felt, 

 thus obtaining a sort of pendent fringe where the stray young ones will not be 

 able to pass ; then, having got rid of all anxiety from this side, he takes his 

 young in his mouth and removes them to short distances, always conveying 

 those of the circumference toward the center. 



If some of the young fish venture to descend vertically, he goes in search of 



