34 



been prepared, the female then moves slowly over it, depositing 

 her ova, and the male impregnates them as fast as laid. The 

 eggs, which are very small, are glued fast to the pebbles. The 

 impregnation is almost absolutely perfect. In the past three 

 years I have examined a large number of beds, by carefully 

 removing one or more of the pebbles covered with eggs, and 

 examining them with a microscope, and have never yet found 

 more than one per cent, of unimpregnated eggs. 



After the eggs are impregnated the male leaves to the female 

 the whole care of the eggs and the young brood. She now passes 

 constantly backwards and forwards over the bed, the motion of 

 her fins and tail keeping the eggs clean, which the fact of 

 their being glued fast permits her to do without washing them 

 away. The following incident will illustrate the necessity for 

 this constant care and attention on the part of the female, as 

 well as point a moral, and furnish an illustration of how the 

 greatest possible increase of this fish may be brought about : 

 One evening in the spring of 1886 I noticed a "jack light" 

 coming down the river, and I felt certain that some of my pets 

 would have to suffer. I had endeavored to protect them as 

 much as possible by requesting such neighbors as I could reach 

 to respect my wishes, and to avoid the beds that I had under 

 observation. Nearly all were willing to do so, but this time 

 one of them made a mistake, as I expected they might, and 

 when I went out in the morning the mother fish was gone. I 

 thought I would secure the young fish (they were just hatched) 

 and take them to the house and " bring them up by hand." 

 So, putting on my wading boots, I walked out to the bed, and 

 there I found, not the young fry, but three or four crayfish 

 and some minnows, which had evidently devoured every fish on 

 the bed. At another time, under similar circumstances, except 

 that the eggs were not hatched, the crayfish had destroyed all 

 the eggs. I took up every pebble without finding a single 

 one. 



The eggs are hatched in from five to ten days, according to 

 the temperature of the water. When first hatched, the young 

 fish are transparent, and so small as to be invisible to the naked 

 eye. They have a much larger umbilical sac than the young 



