MAY MUSES 91 



At first sight of them here no one would sup- 

 pose that these little fishes possessed even one- 

 half of their beauty and intelligence. They seem 

 to be of much the same colour as the bottom of 

 the stream ; one or two appear to be standing on 

 their heads in the water, or diligently scrutinising 

 the ground, and sometimes two of them meet and 

 dodge around each other quickly, and then one 

 chases the other away at speed. Some of these, the 

 males, if viewed in an aquarium, would be found 

 to be gorgeously coloured ; those standing on their 

 heads are fanning the eggs in their nests, and those 

 dodging around each other are fighting cleverly. 



The fish has no specially prehensile member 

 wherewith to grasp the materials for its nest, but 

 it is thoroughly armed for combat with sharp spines 

 two beneath, almost equal to the width of the 

 fish, and three on the back, much shorter, but not 

 less keen and serviceable. From these weapons 

 the fish derives one of its names, for it is the 

 "three-spined stickleback" (Gasterosteus leiurus : 

 Cuv. and Val.). The spines are erectable at will ; 

 and, as would be expected, they are commonly 

 displayed when an attack is about to be delivered 



