Noi29 (LHe EGG OF AMIA AND TES CLEAVAGE. 319 
before the eggs were deposited.”’ Dr. Dean does not give us 
any information as to the number or sex of the fish which he 
observed in these nests. From his statement, page 414, viz.: 
«“ By the time of my visit, however, the spawning season had 
practically ended,” we are led to suggest that these nests might 
have contained newly hatched larvae. We have never observed 
either the male or female occupying a nest for a number of 
days, or even one day, preceding deposition. 
«The mode of depositing the eggs appears to be entirely 
similar to that described by the present writer in the case of 
the gar-pike. The spawning fish leaves the nest from time to 
time, returning in company. The eggs and milt are emitted 
simultaneously. The fishes apparently rub close together, 
since scales are found scattered in the nest bottom, as noted 
by Fiilleborn, and as now confirmed by the present writer.” 
How much of this is to be understood as personal observation 
the author seems to avoid making clear. The words ‘“‘appears”’ 
and “apparently” look more like conjecture than anything 
else. Leaving the nest from time to time could hardly apply 
to the gar-pike, which has no nest. ‘From time to time” 
suggests that oviposition occupies considerable time; and the 
author conjectures that in some cases as many as twelve hours 
are thus consumed. In this he is probably much mistaken, as 
will appear later on. The occurrence of scales in the nest has 
an entirely different explanation from the one above suggested, 
as an observation made by Dr. Eycleshymer, to be related 
presently, will make evident. 
The nest represented on page 419 is so great an improve- 
ment on nature’s art that one might readily conclude that it 
was formed by “constant circlings.” The essential thing in 
an Amia nest is fine rootlets or grass for holding the eggs free 
from mud. If the fish finds a surface adapted to its needs it 
may use it without making any excavation whatever. Such 
nests are often found along the submerged edges of the float- 
ing islands, or “bogs,” as they are locally called. Along the 
shore of the lake the nests are sometimes placed beneath a log 
or stump, but most frequently by the side of a clump of reeds. 
Sometimes the fish finds rootlets only around the edges or on 
