HABITS AND LIFE HISTORY OF THE TOADFISH. IO85 



ducing. William Anderson Smith (1885), writing of the British suckerfish 

 (Lepadogaster) , says that L. decandolii deposits its eggs under stones and that 

 these are watched by the parents. Of another species he writes: 



I have scarcely ever taken the ova of L. bimaculatus except arranged in regular 

 rows in the empty shells of scallops {Pcctcn opercu/aris). 



The eggs are generally accompanied by the parent, curled up inside of the shell 

 watching the progress of her progeny [the context does not indicate that the sex was 

 determined by dissection]; and if the dredge should bring up a shell thus supplied with 

 ova from 8 to 1 2 fathoms off the scallop ground, if the fish is not in the shell it is almost 

 sure to be in the other contents of the dredge, showing that it had either come out in the 

 capture or been watching close by. 



Cleaning the nests. — Connected with the manner of feeding, an interesting 

 thing has been noted. If bits of food put in a Pinna shell occupied by a toad 

 were not eaten, the fish would take them in his mouth and "blow" them out 

 some distance from the shell." This is one way in which the nests are kept 

 clean. Another is by the action of the pectoral and caudal fins in "fanning out " 

 all small particles. All nests in the harbor, even in muddy water, are perfectly 

 clean and free from sediment, as well as larger nonfixed particles. 



A bit of experimental evidence may properly be adduced here. Aquariums 

 or pans containing shells with eggs were put under running salt water. Fish 

 were put into some (they readily adopt nests other than their own) but not into 

 others. The eggs in aquariums with fish were invariably freer from sediment 

 and made better progress than those which had no guardians. The fanning 

 action could not operate at the bottom of jars 8 inches deep, and so another 

 explanation has to be sought for. Having observed that these fish give off large 

 quantities of mucus which sometimes comes to the surface in visible masses, I 

 have arrived at the conclusion that this mucus entangles the sediment and thus 

 carries it off. Let the explanation be what it may, the facts are that nests with 

 guardian fishes were always cleaner, the eggs showed fewer losses and developed 

 better than those without care takers. 



Perhaps it was this same instinct on the part of the fish, of getting rid of 

 all debris, that led to a very curious action which may properly be related here. 

 On July 30, 1906, one of two fish, in an aquarium measuring 8 by 10 inches, 

 picked up in his mouth a sand dollar 4)< inches in diameter, rose to the surface, 

 and tried to throw it out. As the water filled the aquarium to the brim, he would 

 have been successful had not the iron rim by projecting injvard one-fourth of an 

 inch prevented. He persisted in his attempts, however, making six or eight 

 trials in the course of two hours. On August i the same fish tried the same 

 thing over and over again. 



" It may be remarked in passing that the fish will not infrequently blow out the food to take it 

 in again. From repeated observations, I am led to conclude that, since this generally takes place 

 with pieces of fish, the toad is simply trying to get them endwise for easier swallowing. 



