81 



the mud and finer sand from the gravel which they after- 

 wards use to cover their eggs, and preparing a regular 

 inchoate city of fish fry. When these operations are 

 sufficiently advanced, the male who has been chosen by 

 what Darwin curiously styles " natural selection," that is, 

 a most bitter battle against all comers for the lady in 

 "orange silk or silver lawn," who falls a prize to the 

 strongest, joins his bride. They simultaneously and with 

 one mutual impulse of amatory passion deposit the eggs 

 of the female and milt of the male. Only a certain num- 

 ber of these are extruded at a single impulse, and are 

 then carefully covered over with gravel by the female, 

 while the male divides his time between driving away 

 intruders of his own sex, who would usurp his prerog- 

 atives and devouring such stray eggs as may have escaped 

 the notice of his devoted wife, and been carried down 

 stream by the current. One noticeable peculiarity of the 

 spawn of this class of fish is, that the moment it falls from 

 the parent it adheres to whatever it touches. This is a 

 provision of nature to enable the parent to cover it over 

 with gravel before it is washed away, which she does 

 with remarkable skill and care, moving the stones with 

 her ventral fins and tail for 'that purpose. It remains 

 fast for the space of thirty minutes or so, and then becomes 

 loose and is swept away by the current, a dainty morsel 

 for whatever bird or fish or insect that comes across it. 

 It is also to be observed that the eggs are heavy and sink 

 to the bottom like' shot; a marked peculiarity of the 

 spawn of the salmonidae, and distinguishing them from 

 those of other varieties. 



Several different deposits of spawn are made and cover- 

 ed up in this way till often quite a mound of fish eggs 

 and gravel is erected. Such mounds built by the famous 

 trout of Rangeley and her sister lakes are large enough 



