THE FISHERY. 509 



a piece of fibre in his mouth, and with violence thrust it into the mass > 

 then, at other times, he would drag his body with all his strength over 

 the mass to smooth it down. When he was perfectly satisfied with 

 what he had done he mounted guard, and rushed at any other fish 

 which came near him. This nest differs from that which the Rev. Mr. 

 Wood describes as being made by the fifteen-spine stickleback, in that 

 it is merely a thin covering of fibres arranged over the ova placed in a 

 hollow at the bottom of the river. I watched the gentleman stickle- 

 back for many days, and sometimes disarranged the nest for the 

 pleasure of seeing him re-arrange it. Afterwards I found these nests by 

 scores, each protected by its guardian stickleback ; and in the month 

 of May I can always delight rny visitors by showing them a nest 

 presided over by the pugnacious little fish. (Fig. 1107.) 



Some years since I introduced many Tench (Tinea vulgaris] into 

 the river. They do not appear to have multiplied, and in fact we rarely 

 see one at all, so that in their case acclimatization has been a failure. 



We have neither the pike, perch, pope, chub, roach, rudd, gudgeon, 

 minnow, bleak, nor carp in our waters. 



Goldfish like warm water. I have placed these creatures in the 

 fern-house, some in the little lake, where the water is about 50, and 

 others in the tank at the warm end of the house. Those in the warm 

 water were very active and playful, and it greatly amused me to give 

 them a piece of biscuit held tightly between my fingers, when they 

 would nibble at it and fight for it and seize my fingers in play. How- 

 ever, the cats put an end to my amusement as well as to the gambols 

 of the fish, as they contrived to catch them in their claws, and after 

 a time not one was left. Goldfish deposit their spawn on water-weeds, 

 and I have successfully bred them by placing the spawn in contact 

 with such weeds : thus pisciculture may be practised in very small 

 vessels under the rays of the sun. 



REPTILES. 



At Wallington there are no snakes ; neither the Ringed Snake 

 (Tropidonotus matrix], the Viper (Pelius Bcrus], nor the Slow-worm 



