NOTES IN REFERENCE TO STICKLEBACKS’ NESTS. 79 
built of alge, of which he seemed very proud, and pugnaciously 
repelled any interference with which it was threatened. 
Mr. Wilkins came to me and arranged to go in search of some 
female fish as companions for him, and the next day we readily 
selected, from his father’s native pool, several stout ladies for his 
companionship. On our return we placed one of these-in the 
aquarium with him, and it was very instructive and amusing to see 
his excitement. He directly nosed up to her, and giving a kind of 
knowing twist, sailed back to the mouth of his nest, and this he 
continued*to do repeatedly, evidently intending to show her the 
way to the nest. Unfortunately, however, whilst we watched his 
antics, she did not in any way respond to his blandishments, either 
from not being quite ripe for the deposition of her eggs, or possibly 
from a relapse of energy resulting from the rough treatment she had 
endured in her transfer from her natural habitat. However, when 
I examined the aquarium next morning, I was pleased to see that 
she had deposited her eggs in the nest of her mate, and that he, 
with wonderful instinct (how did he learn this?) was diligently 
fanning the nest so as to keep up a current of water to aerate the 
eggs. The next and the following evening receptions had been 
arranged by our Mayor to be held in the Council House, at which 
the members of our Society had promised to assist with a display 
of microscopes, so having covered our gentleman over with a cloth 
and carefully slung the aquarium to a pole, I started, with the 
assistance of a liveried caretaker, to transfer him and his nest to 
the Mayor’s parlour, where, on uncovering the aquarium, I saw that 
he was continuing his diligent attention to the nest, and I am glad 
to say he behaved well, and created much interest with the guests 
at the successive receptions. 
I should not omit to record that the care we took in his removal 
caused some little excitement among the cabbies and others on the 
watch, as that morning the discovery had been made public of the 
dynamite manufacture which had been going on in Birmingham, 
and evidently, by the wide berth we were allowed, we were sus- 
pected of carrying some of Whitehead’s handywork. 
The aquarium, on its return to the room, was placed in a window, 
which received a fair share of what little sunlight this cold month 
afforded us; and on the fourteenth day after the deposition of the 
eggs the young fry made their appearance, and a small family 
rewarded his exertions. Perhaps it might have been better if we 
had allowed him another female or two to stock his nest, as in 
nature the male Stickleback indulges in a plurality of wives if his 
first wife does not fill his nest with eggs to his satisfaction. 
