HABITS AND LIFE HISTORY OF THE TOADFISH. 1087 



When its young have been hatched, the older fish seems to guard them, and teach 

 them the devices of securing food in much the same manner as a hen does her chickens. 

 I have spent hours in watching their movements at this time, and was at first much 

 surprised by the sagacity and patience displayed by the parent fish. 



ATTITUDES AND MOVEMENTS. 



In 1906, attitudes of standing on pelvic fins were seen to be assumed by fish 

 which w^ere not guarding nests. The fish previously referred to as trying to rid its 

 aquarium of a sand dollar repeatedly postured in this fashion. At a little later 

 date a number of fish assumed the same attitude. Again a large fish (not one of 

 the above) not only stood up on his pelvics, but deliberately yawned, gaping his 

 mouth widely. In the earlier instances cited, the taking of this attitude ^eems 

 to have been in anger at the removal of the nest and for the better protection of 

 the young by admitting them under the body; in the last case it was probably 

 assumed as a part of the yawning action of the fish. (That fish yawn, the writer 

 can testify from repeated observations; even larvae with still adherent yolk sacs 

 do so.) For the other instances no explanation is at hand. 



Other curious attitudes also were assumed by the fish. One fish in a round 

 aquarium was seen to He for two hours on his side with his belly against the 

 glass. On the next day the same fish stood on his tail between a large bottle 

 and the wall of the aquarium, and, with his belly against the glass and his mouth 

 nearly closed, breathed through the right gills' only. This continued for some 

 hours. The closest scrutiny could detect no motion whatever of the left oper- 

 culum. This fish and his companions were quite tame and were handled with 

 ease and safety. On the next day both stood on their tails, bellies to the glass, 

 heads laid back, and gill covers barely moving. One of these fish (recognized by 

 a spot on his dorsal) was the one whose yawning has just been described. 



Again, two other fish in another aquarium, seven days later, stood vertically, 

 resting on the roots of their caudal fins, clinging to the glass by the fleshy parts 

 of their jugularly placed pelvics. Later, one of these stood on his tail (bent 

 about midway between anus and caudal), and touched the glass with the bar- 

 bels of his lower jaw only, occasionally moving his pectorals gently. Again, one 

 of these two, some days later, stood vertically clinging with pelvics to the glass, 

 with his caudal fin gently sweeping the floor of the aquarium. Many of the fish 

 were given to lying with the caudal bent abruptly upward at an angle of at least 

 45 degrees. As to why these attitudes are assumed, the writer has no conjec- 

 tures to offer. 



I have seen a fish crawl into a tin can, seemingly only large enough for his 

 head, and then turn around until both head and tail projected from the opening, 

 the tail perhaps partly covering the head. The fish were fond of crawling into 

 shells or empty Mason jars and then reversing ends until only the head was visible. 



