A NEST-liUILDINU FISH. 



this kind of net towards him, pass it under him, and lift him out into 

 your jar, but they will shy and keep backin.i^ away from a white muslin 

 net. Catching with the sort of net I mention is best, as I am not 

 quite certain that dis<Jorging the worm may not give the fish a sore 

 throat. Having got the parent, you then reach out to his nest and care- 

 fully pass your two fingers under it into the soil to which it is very slightly 

 attached, and raise it up with the eggs as little distui-bed as you can, 

 placing it with some water in a shallow vessel — it carries best so. I 

 used a cold-cream pot, well cleaned, about three inches wide and an 

 inch deep, covering it with the lid or a skin, held by an elastic baud, to 

 carry the nest home in. 



The aquarium should be placed where the water receives a fair 

 amount of sun, but will not get too warm, and the nest should either 

 be turned away from where it can be seen, except by a side view — or, 

 better still, from behind some kind of screen with a hole in it ; or 

 you may colour one side of the aquari am with some opaque green 

 colour, leaving a small space clear through which to watch him 

 at work. This is almost necessary, for if they see they are over- 

 looked, they, like some other animals, are apt to devour their own 

 offspring, hatching them out inerely to swallow them as tit-bits. 

 Feeding him with a small worm every few days helps to check his 

 voracity. 



In placing the nest in position, arrange it to lie in the hollow of the 

 clinker or stone, about the same depth at which you found it in the 

 water, as much like its proper form as you can, keeping the eggs under 

 the conferva-framework of the nest, as little exposed as possible. This, 

 however, does not so much matter, as the bold fellow, when you intro- 

 duce him to the water, after swimming about for a time, as soon as he 

 finds the dwelling wuth its future family, will set to work at once to 

 put it in order. This is very interesting. To help him to do this, a 

 little of the conferva from the same pool should be added for materials. 

 We are told the name of this " genus" is Gasterosteus, meaning 

 spine-belly, presumably, I suppose scientifically, because its spines 

 are chiefly on its back. 



All the fresh-water species described, some six, are to be found in 

 this locality, but there is one I have not seen specially distinguished any- 

 where. This is a fellow nearly black, which certainly I would suggest 

 ought, from his surroundings, to be called the "collier." 



I have limited the paper to a few practical notes, helping, I hope, 

 to the history proper of this strange little fish. I shall be glad if it 

 induces any unpractised naturalists to observe and picture more 

 fully his wonderful gifts and display of moods, affections, and senti- 

 ments, so much like our own. 



There are many pools here undisturbed for years by cattle foot or 

 banking up that are very rich in other pond life, but the Mines Drainage 

 Commissioners are rapidly altering the face of parts. 



