SPAWNING PROCESS DESCRIBED. 313 



make use of the elongation in question for that 

 purpose, which springs from the lower jaw, and 

 bends inwards towards the throat. When the 

 female first commences making her spawning- 

 bed, she generally comes after sunset, and goes off 

 in the morning : she works up the gravel with her 

 snout, her head pointing against the stream, and 

 she arranges the position of the loose gravel with 

 her tail. When this is done, the male makes his 

 appearance in the evenings, according to the usage 

 of the female : he then remains close by her, on 

 the side on which the water is deepest. When 

 the female is in the act of emitting her ova, 

 she turns upon her side, with her face to the 

 male, who never moves. The female runs her 

 snout into the gravel, and forces herself under it 

 as much as she possibly can, when an attentive 

 observer may see the red spawn coming from her. 

 The male in his turn lets his milt go over the 

 spawn ; and this process goes on for some days, 

 more or less, according to the size of the fish and 

 consequent quantity of the eggs. During this 

 time trout and other fish will collect below to 

 devour the spawn that floats down the river." 



Mr. Frederick Allies, of St. John's, Worcester, 

 informs me that in the river Teme the spawn is 

 not only eaten by divers sorts of fish, but also by 

 aquatic fowls and other birds and animals. Mr. 

 Scrope remarks, " When the female has done 



