COTTUS GOBIO. 53 



one which measured four inches in length Patio counted a deposit of 701 eggs. 

 After the eggs are laid the female usually retires to a respectful distance, 

 though some of the older writers stated that she cemented the eggs to her 

 breast. Then her place in the nest is taken by the male, who not only 

 defends them against the curiosity or gluttony of idle fishes in the stream, 

 but with a mother-like devotion watches over them for four or five weeks 

 without intermission, never leaving his self-imposed duties except to obtain 

 food. He is not easily disturbed, and if attacked by the angler with a rod 

 or stick he will seize the intruding object, and is often killed in defending 

 the nest. Some writers, however, have questioned the existence of this 

 remarkable instinct. 



The Miller's Thumb is caught in Germany with a small net known as 

 the " Koppensegge," or it may be taken in baskets at weirs, or with a rod 



Fig. 20. COTTUS GOBIO, VARIETY MICKOSTOMt'S 



and line, and is valued as a bait for eels. Its flesh is white and well 

 flavoured. In Pallas's time it was often ~ worn round the neck by Russian 

 peasants as an amulet against intermittent fever. 



In many parts of North Germany it furnishes a favourite sport to children, 

 who pursue it bare-legged in the shallow streams, armed with an ordinary 

 table-fork, with which the fish is speared. 



In Britain it is not eaten. Yarrell mentions an instance in which its flesh 

 became red when boiled. It is tenacious of life, and lives out of water for 

 an hour or two if kept wet. 



The joung individuals are at first gregarious, and keep to the nest ; but 

 as its limited space becomes inconveniently crowded, they seek solitary habita- 

 tions. They begin to breed when two years of age. 



Yarrell remarks that the popular English name of Miller's Thumb has 

 reference to the smooth, broad, rounded form of the head, which is shaped 

 like the thumb of a miller moulded by testing the grinding of his mill. 



