336 Miscellaneous. 
successfully hitherto. A large number of littoral animals, finding 
in this pool a safe shelter from the rough sea, have come to choose 
their abode in it; they are found there under conditions exception- 
ally favourable for uninterrupted observation. Blennius sphynw is a 
case in point. Many individuals belonging to this pretty species 
have made their way into the basin in order to construct their nests 
in it. Some have chosen the holes with which the schist forming 
the sides is pierced in all directions; others have established them- 
selves in the tunnels bored by the Yeredos in the timbers which 
have been utilized for the construction of the coffer-dams. 
The male of Blennius sphyna selects as the locality of his nest a 
little cavity with a narrow opening, just large enough to allow his 
body to pass through. His pretty head, which is black striped with 
blue, and surmounted by two graceful yellow horns, alone projects 
from the hole, and the little creature remains constantly on the 
watch in this position; as soon as he espies a female searching for 
food among the surrounding alge, he raises himself halfway out of 
the nest, while his spiny dorsal fin, which is greatly elevated and 
very vividly coloured, assumes a vertical position; he imparts to 
the anterior portion of his body a vertical swaying motion, un- 
doubtedly with the object of attracting the female. If the latter 
does not respond to this invitation, the male leaves the nest and 
goes to meet her. His colours become extremely vivid, and his head 
suddenly darkens, which again causes the blue streaks with which 
it is adorned to stand out more sharply; the black, yellow, and blue 
bands on the sides of his body acquire a brilliancy of striking effect, 
and he darts suddenly upon the female, at the same time again 
erecting his magnificent dorsal fin. 
These demonstrations do not always succeed in ensuring the 
success of the little male; but,if his appeals are listened to, the 
female enters the nest and soon commences to deposit her eggs, 
which adhere to the walls of the nest by means of delicate filaments 
of a glutinous nature and follicular origin, attached to the base of 
the shell around the micropyle. During the whole of the time 
occupied by the spawning the male is the victim of intense excite- 
ment. He cruises around his hole to keep watch on its approaches ; 
when the female, who is completely hidden within the nest, allows 
her head to be seen and makes a show of wishing to escape, he flies 
at her and bites her in order to force her to reenter. From time to 
time he penetrates into the nest; he is seen to move rapidly and 
then to undergo a sort of violent shudder, accompanied by a slight 
forward movement, which corresponds to the emission of the semen 
destined for the fertilization of the ova which have been deposited. 
The scenes which | have just described are repeated until, 
spawning being completed, the female abandons the nest to return 
to it no more. ‘The male, who is polygamous, remains as the 
faithful guardian of the ova deposited by the different females 
which he receives in his domicile, and acquits himself of his task 
with surprising perseverance and tenacity. 
I have captured males guarding their ova and transported them 
