COURTSHIP AND NURSERY DUTIES. 109 



fish (Aspredo batrachus), at about the time that 

 the eggs are ripe, the skin of the abdomen 

 becomes very swollen and tender, assuming a 

 soft spongy nature. As soon as the eggs are 

 laid, the aspredo presses them into the spongy 

 tissue by lying on them. When fixed she carries 

 them about with her, attached to the belly, till 

 they are hatched. As soon as this occurs the 

 skin shrinks to its former dimensions, and the 

 abdomen is once more perfectly smooth. 



The Surinam toad of tropical America, 

 strangely enough, adopts a precisely similar 

 method of guarding the eggs. But in this 

 case they are embedded in the swollen skin of 

 the back instead of the belly. They are placed 

 on the back by the male. Embedded in the 

 skin the egg then undergoes its full course of 

 development. That is to say, it does not com- 

 pel the young, at the tadpole stage, to turn out 

 and support themselves, but contains sufficient 

 food material to allow the tadpole stage to be 

 dispersed with, the young emerging as fully 

 formed though tiny toads. 



Another instance of a female fish caring for 

 the eggs is that of an ally of the pipe-fish, the 

 Solenostoma cyanopterum, of the Indian Ocean. 

 These, according to Dr Giinther, are borne on a 

 pouch formed by the ventral fins, and for further 

 security the inside of this pouch is beset with 

 numerous long filamentous appendages. In a 

 third case the female shares with her mate the 

 anxieties of watching the eggs. 



Amongst many species of true pipe-fish the 

 care of the offspring, as seems to be usual with 



