THIRTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. I9g9 
number of their germs, just in that proportion do the chances of 
survival of the individual germs seem to be diminished, and wice 
versa, and that this natural fecundity, or the want of it, is depend- 
ent upon the amount of protection received by the eggs in the 
course of development. 
Prof. Gitt: The observations of Mr. Ryder are very interest- 
ing, and it is one of those strange cases that we so often meet in 
nature—the accommodation and correlation of different things. 
In this case we have the number of eggs in a certain ratio to the 
capability of the young fish to take care of themselves. We have 
it now established on a large basis that there is generally a close 
correlation between the two, and that the number of eggs is in 
inverse ratio to the capability of the young to protect themselves. 
Besides the cases alluded to by Mr. Ryder, we have an interest- 
ing instance of the female of one type of catfish found in South 
America, Aspredinide, in which there occur periodically swell- 
ings of the skin of the abdomen in which the eggs are received, 
and therein they are nourished for some time. Again in the same 
group, or order of catfishes, but in another family, we have the 
Ariz, in which the male parent takes care of the eggs by holding 
them in his mouth, and so preserving them from danger very 
skillfully. Care is taken of the young by other species of the 
family. It was with great interest, that some months ago Mr. 
Ryder and myself observed the habits of our common catfish. 
The male hovered over the young, and when feeding frequently 
took the young into his mouth, but always ejected them again, 
thus discriminating accurately between the objects taken as 
food and the young fish incidentally transferred to his mouth. 
This same habit of taking care of the young in the mouth is ex- 
hibited by certain Cichlids, forms somewhat like, and perhaps 
akin to, our common sunfishes. One of these is a fish found in 
the Holy Land,a species of Chromis. And the same peculiar 
habit is likewise manifested by species of the same family living 
in South America, the Geophag?. The belief was also long cur- 
rent, and found expression in most of the old books, that fishes 
not only did not take care of their young, but were invariably 
