158 THE LUMPSUCKER 



sly, diplomatic ways, though really more dangerous, were 

 less alarming to them than the furious, but harmless, assaults 

 of the lumpsucker.' 



It is by butting, not biting, that the lumpsucker 

 scatters intruders, for his mouth is not equipped as a 

 weapon of offence. But his shock tactics are very 

 effective. One day the attendant bared his arm in 

 order to put a flat stone behind the eggs so as to show 

 them up better. The guardian fish charged so furiously 

 as to drive his arm against the front of the tank. But 

 the diminutive brain of this fine fighter proved 

 capable of discrimination. The two females, after a 

 few days' repose, became hungry and active. They 

 paid no attention either to their husbands or their eggs. 

 4 Even when one came so close to the eggs as to brush 

 them with her fins, the male merely looked at her, or 

 moved a little aside to let her pass.' 



For two long months this infatuated father could not 

 be induced to take any food. He became thin and 

 infested with parasites, losing all the bright colours of 

 courtship. His appearance was desperate and disreput- 

 able, though the unemployed male remained as 

 corpulent and bright as ever. If a mussel or other 

 savoury morsel happened to sink near the guardian or 

 his precious charge, he would seize it in his mouth, 

 carry it to a distance, spit it out, and return at once to 

 his post. The other lumpsuckers ate as many mussels 

 as they could get. 



Thus far this little drama differed only in the scale 

 of the actors from the domestic performance of the 

 male stickleback, an average lumpsucker weighing 



