FISHES AND SEA-SQUIKTS. 305 



of its habits. The young may be found in abundance in 

 the rock pools in summer and autumn, but to get the adults 

 one must search in the early spring months. Then, in pools 

 through which a stream flows, you may often find a large 

 mass of bright pink eggs, adhering to stones or weeds. 

 Close beside it, often half uncovered at low tide, is the male 

 parent, who with great devotion watches the eggs until they 

 hatch. He is said to carry away the young with him after 

 hatching has taken place ; but I do not know how to re- 

 concile this statement with the fact that the young are 

 abundant in the rock pools. Of the devotion of the males, 

 however, there can be no doubt, for they may be watched 

 every spring, and by marking a specimen it is easy to show 

 that the watching lasts for at least several weeks. Un- 

 fortunately, as March and April, the months in which the 

 eggs are laid, are apt to be stormy months, the weeks of 

 watching are not infrequently prematurely cut short by the 

 death of the male. In both sexes there is a curious suctorial 

 disc on the under side, by means of which the animals can 

 attach themselves to any firm surface, but as they are feeble 

 swimmers they are unable to resist the action of the waves 

 when once torn from their attachment, and the males 

 especially, from their prolonged and dangerous proximity to 

 the shore, are peculiarly liable to destruction in high winds. 

 In regard to the special characters (see Fig. 7) the body 

 is short, thickened, and elevated, and marked by strong 

 lines of tubercles. Of these there is a prominent row along 

 the middle of the back, which, being elevated on a crest, 

 gives rise to the Scotch name of paddle-cock or cock-paidle 

 (the male), and three pairs of lateral rows, in addition to 

 numerous scattered processes. These tubercles, together with 

 the ventral sucker (formed of the ventral fins), make it im- 

 possible to confuse the fish with any other. The colours, 

 especially on the under surface, differ in the two sexes, for 

 this is orange-red in the breeding male and bluish black in 

 the female. Though its appearance is not appetising, readers 

 of The Antiquary will remember that in Jonathan Oldbuck's 

 time at least the " cock-paidle " was prized as food. It does 

 not appear to be now commonly used in this way, but those 

 cast on shore after the storms of spring are said to be some- 

 times carted away to be used as manure or for feeding pigs. 



