ioo A BOOK OF THE RUNNING BROOK: 



appearance the minnow's life is a hand-to-hand 

 struggle for existence. All fish are ready to eat 

 him, and even his eggs become the prey of 

 many enemies, especially eels, ducks, and 

 shore-rats, who watch the minnows during 

 the spawning season, and, if possible, devour 

 all the eggs. If minnows were not so remarkably 

 prolific, they would have become extinct long 

 ago ; but, as Aristotle remarked, minnows begin 

 to breed almost as soon as they come into 

 existence. The spawning season, which is in 

 the middle of summer, is a very short one, and 

 the great increase of minnows would therefore 

 seem at first a mystery ; but the same observer, 

 Aristotle, discovered that "the younger fishes 

 produce a progeny sufficient to provide a second 

 growth before the expiration of the same 

 season." 



A writer in " Loudon's Magazine of Natural 

 History " in May, 1832, described his own obser- 

 vations on the spawning of minnows, which were 

 most curious, as follows : 



" I was astonished to find how quickly the eggs were 

 hatched. I discovered a large shoal spawning on the 1 ith 



