FIFTEEN-SPIN ED STICKLEBACK. ISo 



A nest selected for observation liad its outer ease lornied ot" 

 green sea-weeds, within which were short pieces of brown 

 weeds; and, contrary to the usual custom, it was watched 

 by a couple of these fishes. At the precise time of quitting 

 the egg, the young were placed under a magnifier of inodcrafc 

 power, when it was observed, that instead of a long protruded 

 snout, the form of the head was round and blunt, the pec- 

 toral fins were large, and a dorsal fin passed along the greater 

 part of the back to be united to the caudal fin, from which 

 again it advanced to form an anal fin. In some examples 

 this union was by an uninterrupted border, but in others 

 there was a notch at the i)lace where the dorsal and anal 

 fins came together. The belly was protuberant, and in some 

 the ovum was still visibly attached to the body; and as the part 

 of union was diaphanous, globules could be seen, that had 

 j^asscd from the egg to the intestine. No ventral, fins could 

 be perceived, which is less a matter of surprise that it has 

 been observed in other instances — these organs arc the last 

 that go through the process of develoj^ment. The truly apodal 

 fishes (such as are always without ventral fins, as the Conger,) 

 are, in fact, in a condition of arrested development in this 

 particular. How widely difierent is this form from that of the 

 i:>arent! and yet, when half an inch in length, the lineaments 

 arc perfect. These little newly-born fishes were active and 

 voracious, for they eagerly attacked such of their fellows as 

 fell dead to the bottom of the vessel in which they were 

 confined. 



This sjiecies is capable of great activity, and when in cap- 

 tivity I have known it to throw itself over the brim of a 

 vessel where the water was three inches below it. It feeds 

 on crustaceous animals, and indeed on any animal substance 

 it is able to swallow; and I have known it to attack and 

 partially devour an eel of three inches in length, which, 

 however, it was conqjclled finally to reject. 



The usual length is about six inches; the head compressed 

 at the sides, wide and fiat on the top, lengthened before the 

 eyes, which arc moderately large and brilliant. Under jaw 

 the longest; both have teeth; the lips fieshy; tongue far back 

 in the gullet. Nostrils midway between the snout and eyes, 

 and appearing to exert a sensitive action when the fish is at 



