76 INTRODUCTION. 



proaching Greenland, precedes and deposits her 

 roe ; the male shortly follows, and fructifies the 

 ova, adhering so closely to the mass, that the im- 

 pression formed by the ventrals is left upon the 

 hollow surface ; after which he keeps watch over 

 the sacred deposit, and guards it most courageously 

 against every foe. If driven from the spot by man, 

 he does not remove far, and speedily returns. Even 

 the well T armed Wolf-fish hazards his life if he ap- 

 proaches the Lump's nest ; for this creature, not- 

 withstanding the smallness of its teeth, is capable 

 of attaching itself to its adversary's neck, and there 

 inflicting a mortal wound." And, finally, Dr. John- 

 ston reports of the same fish, that " when she 

 approaches the shore and deposits her spawn among 

 the rocks and sea-weed within low-water mark, 

 returning immediately to deep water, the male 

 covers the spawn, and, according to the testimony 

 of our fishermen, remains near it until the ova are 

 hatched. The young, soon after birth, fix them- 

 selves to the sides and on the back of their male 

 parent, who, thus loaded, sails away to deeper and 

 more safe retreats." 



Thus then it appears, that in various species of 

 four different families of osseous fishes, these kind 

 and parental affections have been detected, in dif- 

 ferent climes, from the Caribbean Sea to the frozen 

 shores of Greenland. To these instances, others, we 

 presume, might be added ; and when we reflect on 

 the element in which this occurs, under circum- 

 stances so far removed from common observation, it 



