ftquattc liitt 



75 



Africa, are known to aquarists. Those 

 from South America have probably at- 

 tracted the most attention because thus 

 far they have been most readily obtained. 

 The breeding habits vary with the spe- 

 cies ; relationship in fishes does not neces- 

 sarily indicate a similarity in the meth- 

 ods employed to protect eggs and young. 

 With one exception the labyrinth fishes 

 build foamy nests of bubbles at the sur- 

 face, in which the eggs incubate; Betta 

 pugnax is a mouth-breeder after the 

 manner of Haplochromis stringigena. 

 This latter species belongs to the family 

 CichlidaE, the members of which 

 usually deposit the eggs on a rock or 

 other object to which they adhere while 

 developing. 



The European papers describe the 

 habits of Corydoras palcatus substan- 

 tially as does Mr. Dungan, but state that 

 the eggs adhere to the plants, giving the 

 number as about one hundred. When 

 the editor saw Mr. Dungan's youngsters, 

 about six weeks after hatching, the rings 

 he describes as remaining on the glass 

 after eggs hatch still persisted. Cory- 

 doras palcatus was formerly called Cal- 

 lychthys pitnctatus and C. fasciatus. 

 C. macroptcrus and C. undulatus have 

 similar habits. Callychthys callychthys, 

 a nomenclatorial curiosity inasmuch as 

 the systematists have not contrived a 

 valid excuse to place it in another genus, 

 still bearing the name given by Linneaus 

 many years ago, is said to build a foamy 

 nest in which the eggs and young are 

 accorded care by the male. 



Some years ago a paper on the 

 "Spawning and Development of Panzer- 

 wels," species not stated, by Wittig 

 Brannschneig, appeared in a German 

 periodical, and from which the following 

 excerpts (translation by Ellen K. Innes) 

 are taken : 



"Towards midnight I noticed a furious 

 driving. Both the males touched the 



female with their mouths, whereat she 

 made a chewing or sucking motion. This 

 tasting or licking, as I would like to call 

 it, always took place on the back in front 

 of the dorsal fins, and on the head, rarely 

 on the sides. During the whole of the 

 spawning the males were of a bright yel- 

 lowish color. The fins were dotted. The 

 mottling had entirely disappeared. Im- 

 mediately the female begin to spit. With 

 a quick motion she seized the male on 

 die side and fastened herself with strong- 

 sucking onto the male in the neighbor- 

 hood of the ventral fins near the anus, 

 where there is the opening for the flow 

 of the sperm. With a trembling move- 

 ment they remained for a while — ten to 

 twenty seconds — the male lying some- 

 what on the side, turning the belly 

 towards the female. During the fore- 

 going three to four eggs have fallen into 

 a pocket, which the female has formed 

 by laying together the ventral fin. * * * 

 After this act followed a short condition 

 of weakness, especially for the female, 

 who, during a renewed teasing by the 

 male, remained quiet. After she had 

 revived, she swam around among the 

 plants searching for a special leaf of 

 Ludzvigia, which she touched on the 

 under side with a spitting motion of the 

 mouth, whereby a pasty substance was 

 exuded and fastened to the leaf. Then, 

 with an agility that so plump a land ani- 

 mal would not have trusted herself to 

 she turned on her back and quickly 

 pressed the eggs on the leaf, where she 

 stuck them so tightly that I have never 

 noticed any fall to the ground. * * * 



"When fertilization takes place I could 

 not definitely say. Either it takes place 

 in the pocket ( formed by the ventral 

 fin) or when the eggs are fastened on 

 the leaves. The latter is more probable. 

 The opinion that the sperm is admitted 

 into the fin-pocket is, on account of the 

 position of the fish, completely barred 



