THE BLIND-FISHES. I 17 



II. Breeding Habits. 



We owe the first observations on the breeding habits of 

 Amblyopsis to Thompson, 1 who states that a fish " was put in 

 water as soon as captured, where it gave birth to nearly twenty 

 young, which swam about for some time, but soon died. . . . 

 They were each four lines in length." Little or nothing has 

 been added to our knowledge of this subject since that time ; 

 but the highly interesting supposition of Thompson, that they 

 were viviparous, has gained common currency, and it is there- 

 fore unfortunate that in this respect he was in error. 



Putnam 2 adds to the above that, judging from some data in 

 his possession, the young are born in September and October, 

 and further along remarks that they are undoubtedly viviparous. 



The first young I obtained were secured on May 9, 1896. 

 The little fish could move actively for a few moments, but as 

 they were encumbered with much yolk, they soon settled to 

 the bottom and remained quiet. There were a large number of 

 old ones in the water in which the young were found, and the 

 mother of this lot was not identified with certainty. Another 

 lot of young were obtained on September 5 of the same year. 

 These were much further along in their development than the 

 first lot secured. Some were preserved and others were placed 

 in various aquaria, where one lived to be ten months old. As 

 before, the parent was not with certainty determined, simply 

 because it was taken for granted that they were viviparous, and 

 the ovaries only were examined. Two other lots of young were 

 obtained on June 5, 1897. One of these lots was in the stage 

 of the first lot obtained, with a large amount of yolk still pres- 

 ent, while in the other lot the yolk had almost entirely dis- 

 appeared. These had been carried in the gill cavity of the 

 mother, and it became evident that either the fish were not 

 viviparous at all, or their viviparity was not nearly of the pro- 

 nounced character hitherto supposed. 



On March n, 1898, twenty-nine individuals were captured. 

 Four of these were females with eggs in their gill cavities. 



1 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 1844. 



2 Am. Nat., p. 16, 1872. 



