NESTS OF FISH. 141 



many generations of them are not devoured before 

 they are hatched, by hungry rovers, and often by 

 the fish themselves, who had secreted their offspring 

 with such care ! Life is preserved in the sea by the in- 

 credible fecundity of marine animals, a fecundity of 

 which we have now seen a few examples. 



Some inhabitants of the seas, however, appear to 

 take the most jealous precautions to protect their de- 

 scendants from the attacks of a too implacable enemy. 

 Some, like the marine worm, the solen, hide them- 

 selves entirely in the sand ; others content themselves 

 with secreting their eggs ; others, again, actually con- 

 struct nests in the algse, the leaves of which they 

 interlace for the purpose. 



The stickleback, in particular, so much to be 

 dreaded for the fry of other fish, takes the greatest 

 care of its own eggs. Living usually in the sub- 

 marine forests, it is of the most savage character. In 

 the spawning season, it weaves its nest most ar- 

 tistically, and there deposits iia eggs. Unhappy is 

 the fish which approaches that sanctuary : whatever 

 be its size, it will have to defend itself from the 

 furious attack of the stickleback — it will have to 

 bear stroke redoubled upon stroke of its prickles. Its 

 bites will sometimes rend the skin. M. Arderon 

 relates that he once preserved a stickleback in a 

 great jar of water, where it devoured in five hours 



