FISH AS FA THERS. 161 



pipe-fish of the English Channel, and many allied forms 

 from European seas, there is no pouch at all, but the 

 father of the family carries the eggs about with him, 

 glued firmly on to the service of his abdomen by a 

 natural mucus. In a somewhat more advanced tropical 

 kind, the ridges of the abdomen are slightly dilated, so 

 as to form an open groove, which loosely holds the eggs, 

 though its edges do not meet in the middle as in the 

 great pipe-fish. Then come yet other more progressive 

 forms, like the great pipe-fish himself, where the folds 

 meet so as to produce a complete sac, which opens at 

 maturity, to let out its little inmates. And finally, in 

 the common Mediteranean sea-horses, which you can 

 pick up by dozens on the Lido at Venice, and a specimen 

 of which exists in the dried form in every domestic mu- 

 seum, the pouch is permanently closed by coalescence of 

 the edges, leaving a narrow opening in front, through 

 which the small hippocampi creep out one by one as 

 soon as they consider themselves capable of buffeting the 

 waves of the Adriatic. 



Fish that take much care of their offspring naturally 

 don't need to produce eggs in the same reckless 

 abundance as those dissipated kinds that leave their 

 spawn exposed on the bare sandy bottom, at the mercy 

 of every comer who chooses to take a bite at it. They 

 can afford to lay a smaller number, and to make each in- 

 dividual egg much larger and richer in proportion than their 

 rivals. This plan, of course, enables the young to begin life 

 far better provided with muscles and fins than the tiny 

 little fry which come out of the eggs of the improvident 

 species. For example, the cod-fish lays nine million odd 



