MA Y MUSES 99 



with motionless fins, and unbalanced in the moving 

 water, in order to escape observation. This torture 

 of the female fish is not a matter of one day, nor 

 of one locality. It goes on for weeks, and in most 

 of the rivulets and ponds of England. 



But as the days pass it becomes more and more 

 necessary for the female to find an asylum for 

 her eggs, and the instinctive desire for this over- 

 comes even her fear of the ferocious male. She 

 approaches the glowing guardian of a nest, who 

 hastens to drive her away. But she is now 

 desperate. She does not dart off as usual, but 

 displays her spines, as though to resist the attack. 



Instantly his manner changes. He rushes towards 

 the nest, then returns and hovers in front of her, 

 rapidly starting back and immediately returning, 

 curving himself meanwhile in the manner of a 

 little dog who seeks to induce his master to go for 

 a walk. The female may not at once understand 

 what this means. Often she darts off, wildly 

 scared, but soon she will follow him slowly, curving 

 herself meanwhile as though to reveal to the 

 utmost her unwieldy condition. When at last she 

 sees the nest she plunges under it and forces 



