74 Mr Ramages Account of a Stickleback, fyc. 



Art. XII. Account of a Stickleback that was found with a 



Leech alive in Us Intestines, July 1818. * By Mr John 

 Ramage, Aberdeen. Communicated by tbe Autbor. 



When taking a walk in the evening, with some of my child- 

 ren, they observed, in a small rivulet, south side of King's 

 College, Old Aberdeen, a shoal of sticklebacks in the water, 

 which attracted their attention. I immediately put down my 

 hand and caught one of them which was skimming near the 

 surface, apparently as active and lively as the others, with 

 this difference only, that it was much distended, and appeared 

 full of roe. One of the children, to whom I had given the 

 stickleback, after keeping it in his hand for a few minutes, 

 told me that its gut was coming out; and, upon looking at it, 

 I found about an inch of a white substance protruding from 

 the anus. At first I suspected the child had squeezed it, and 

 that it was part of the roe that appeared ; but, upon examin- 

 ing it more minutely, I found the substance to be alive 

 and in motion ; and, to my astonishment, in the course of 

 half a minute, a leech fully as large as the stickleback had 

 disengaged itself, and was crawling about on my hand. The 

 stickleback died almost immediately after giving birth to this 

 strange offspring, and the leech survived it only about twelve 

 hours. Its appearance and motion corresponded in every re- 

 spect with those of the common leech, excepting that the co- 

 lour was entirely white. (The present brown colour is owing 

 the solution of nitrate of silver in which they are preserved.) 



Upon examining the stickleback minutely, it seemed to me 

 that the leech was lodged in the small gut, and most probably 

 had been swallowed by the stickleback for food when of a 

 small size, and had grown to its present dimensions in the 

 stickleback's belly after having been swallowed. 



"Mr Ramage, already well known to the public from the two magnifi- 

 cent reflecting telescopes which he has constructed, has transmitted the 

 stickleback and the leech to the museum of the Royal Society of Edin- 

 burgh. — Ed. 



1 



