HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 273 



But during the months of June, July, and August, we shall in many instances be able 

 to discover another purpose, — it is apparently guarding its eggs or young. We shall 

 then find, on the inferior surface of the stone, the young Toad-fish adhering, to the 

 number of several hundreds. They will be in diflferent stages of development, according 

 to the season of our examination. We may see the eggs, not larger than very small shot ; 

 a little later they are increased in size, and the young fish plainly visible through their 

 walls ; a little later still, the young have made their escape, but are still attached to 

 the stone. The attachment now, howevei-, is accomplished in a different manner. The 

 yolk, not being yet absorbed, occupies a rounded sac protruding by a narrow orifice 

 from the abdomen, and the part of this sac near its outer border, being constricted, 

 leaves external to it a disc, by means of which, acting as a sucker, the young fish 

 adheres so firmly as to occasion difficulty in detaching it. They remain thus until they 

 have attained the length of half or three quarters of an inch, or until the yolk-sac is 

 entirely absorbed. During this period an adult fish occupies the cavity beneath the 

 stone, and if driven from it speedily returns. That this is, in all cases, the mother of 

 the young ones, and that she is there for the purpose of guarding them, we have no 

 means of determining : we can only infer it. Although the assertion, that fish have 

 no afi"ection for their young, has long been considered universally true, yet exceptions 

 to it are now well known to exist. Our common Cat-fish, or Horned Pout, furnishes 

 an example, and the habit of the Batrachus here described appears to give another 

 illustration bearing on the same point. 



During the winter months, in our colder latitudes, the Toad-fish in some instances, 

 perhaps, retire into deep water ; it is true, however, that many of them become nearly 

 torpid. They are found buried beneath the mud, in the same manner as the Eels, and 

 are sometimes taken with the spear thrust down in search of their more valued 

 neighbors. One which was caught in this way was nearly as vigorous and capable of 

 motion after twenty-four hours of removal from the water, as when first taken. 



The Toad-fish is not commonly employed as an article of food. Its slippery, 

 slimy surface, and its generally repulsive aspect, cause it to be looked on rather with 

 disgust. That its flesh, however, is delicate and good, can scarcely be questioned, though 

 the small size which it attains, — eight inches to a foot in length, — and the fact that 

 it is never taken in any large quantities, prevent it from being of much economical value. 



The specific name tau, given to this species by Linnseus, is derived from a character not 

 discernible until the fish is dead and his integuments have become dry. The bones 

 on the upper surface of the skull are then seen to present a transverse ridge met 

 by another in a longitudinal direction, thus resembling the Greek letter T (tau). 



VOL. V. NEW SERIES. 38 



