Miscellaneous. 45 1 



tank, where a few branches of Myriophyllum, Chora, and Anacharis 

 crossed each other ; these he connected by an accumulation of inter- 

 laced, decayed, and growing fibres of confervse, which he broke off or 

 collected from neighbouring parts. When the fibres were added to 

 the nest, he generally pushed them into the nest with his snout, but 

 did not, so far as I could see, agglutinate them with a viscid secre- 

 tion, such as I have seen the three-spined Stickleback do. When he 

 brought bits of dirt, he was content to project them into or upon the 

 mass of fibres which formed the nest. By dint of great industry, in 

 about forty-eight hours he built a large well-formed nest, about the 

 size and shape of a full-sized walnut, with a central aperture passing 

 almost but at first not quite through it, in a direction nearly hori- 

 zontal. During all this time he never interrupted his labours for, 

 and care of, the young fry in his first nest, but continued both to 

 catch the young Perch, and to watch and fan the nest ; and after a 

 few days he had to catch and bring back his own young ones when 

 they began to wander. About this time his labours were incessant 

 during the light hours ; and although he seemed to take no food, he 

 looked well. I then (the fifteenth day) put two ripe female ten- 

 spined Sticklebacks into the tank; he courted them with great vigour; 

 but as they did not respond, he drove them into the most distant and 

 obscure corners with great ferocity : he then set to work with greater 

 vigour than ever to enlarge and beautify his nest, and in the course 

 of the following day the females deposited their ova in it so that 

 they were easily seen, from the favourable position of the nest with 

 regard to light. For three days more he continued his care of both 

 nests, and caught indiscriminately young Perch and young Stickle- 

 backs and put them indifferently into either nest. By the eighteenth 

 day from the deposition of the ova in the first nest, and the sixth 

 after hatching, the Stickleback fry were independent, and roamed in 

 search of food ; and from this date the parent took no more notice of 

 them. I neglected to note whether the ova deposited in the second 

 nest hatched safely ; but I have reason to think that they did, as 

 about a fortnight later I saw some, very young Sticklebacks in the 

 tank. This instance of the failure of instinct is remarkable, as the 

 Tinker was almost starving in the midst of plenty. I am not aware 

 that anyone has hitherto noticed the simultaneous building and tend- 

 ing of two nests by any of the Gasterostei ; it would be interesting 

 to ascertain if this be an exceptional fact, or limited to the ten-spined 

 species. One would hardly expect it among the three-spined Stickle- 

 backs, as they can and do enlarge their nests very considerably, so as 

 in the nest of one male to receive, fertilize, and protect the spawn of 

 several females. It is well known that the female Sticklebacks spawn 

 more than once in a season ; but it is not known, so far as I have 

 read, how many times they spr^vn, nor how many times the males 

 build ; there will probably be a relation between the two. The ob- 

 servation here given shows at least two consecutive generations. 

 This repeated ripening of ova in one season is doubtless connected 

 with their large comparative size, and their consecpient small number, 

 as compared with those of other osseous fishes. — Transactions of 

 the Midland Scientific Association. 



