NATURE'S CALENDAR 163 



Some of them make beds in the sand j^l ^o 



of clear streams, or even regular nests 

 of pebbles in which to deposit their eggs, 

 and they stay by them and watch them 

 against danger as well as they can. I 

 think none, however, care so much for 

 their young as do those very different, 

 ugly, worm-eating, mud-loving fishes the 

 horned pouts, or bull-heads, which now 

 keep their little ones in a close flock, the 

 mother swimming round and round them 

 to guard them from harm, and betray- 

 ing the greatest anxiety when anything 

 threatens the peace of her young. 



Several sea-fishes postpone their spawn- 

 ing until this month. Such are the 

 Spanish mackerel, which arrive from the 

 South and begin spawning in the open 

 bays, while the sea-bass resort to the eel- 

 grass. The goose-fish now spawns, void- 

 ing its eggs in the form of broad floating 

 ribbons. The sea -robins, gurnards, and 

 sculpins are also spawning, and the queer 

 pipe-fishes in the eel-grass. The kingfish 

 and harvest-fish are added to the market 

 list, and the netting of sturgeon begins in 

 the Hudson. Crabs are shedding their 

 coats, and the toothsome " soft-shell '-' is a 

 dainty of the season ; while the surface of 

 inshore waters is alive with its larvae. 



Marine life is now abundant and active. 

 Jelly-fish are beginning to grow numer- 

 ous, annelids are laying eggs, and the 

 planarians attaching theirs in large white 

 clusters to submerged rocks and wood- ._ 



July 21 



