400 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [voL. 48 
manner that a hen does her chickens.” He had “spent hours in 
watching their movements at this time, and was at first much sur- 
prised by the sagacity and patience displayed by the parent fish.” 
If piscine intruders appear, he darts at them and drives them away; 
if a finger is pointed at him, he will snap at it and perhaps hold it 
for some seconds—if allowed! If driven or taken from his nest, 
he will return to it as soon as possible. 
When released from paternal care the young toadfishes are prone 
to seek shelter in oyster shells and are not infrequently found 
between the valves of living oysters. One, 2% inches long, found 
in a living oyster, was described by Lesueur (1823). 
The subsequent history of a toadfish has not been made known, 
nor do the specimens in the United States National Museum fur- 
nish the necessary data for exact computation. 
Goode, at Noank, Connecticut, had an opportunity of watching 
the progress of the spawning season. July 14, numerous eggs were 
found clinging to the stones in water one to two feet in depth; later 
in the season, July 21, young fishes half an inch long were plenty, 
and September 1, these had attained an average length of one inch. 
Individuals of the second year’s growth were also common and 
would average perhaps three or four inches.1_ It is probable that 
maturity is reached in the third or fourth year. 
The toadfishes, uncanny and repulsive in appearance as they are 
generally regarded, are usually rejected by most fishermen and 
never admitted to the tables of the well-to-do, if by any persons. 
Nevertheless, they may help to furnish a satisfactory and savory 
meal. We learn from Stearns that “its flesh is highly esteemed by 
many of the Gulf fishermen”; these, it may be urged, are mostly 
ignorant blacks. By eminent men, and good judges, however, the 
opinion of the Gulf fishermen has been endorsed. Storer testified 
that “its flesh is delicate and good” and Baird that it is “ very sweet 
and palatable.” The present writer tried one many years ago and 
was favorably impressed by it.? 
1In Goode’s article it is stated that “individuals of the second years 
growth ... would average three-fourths of an inch in length,” a statement 
contradicted by the context and probably a lapsus calami for three or four 
inches. 
2In many parts of Florida the fishermen are whites, especially at Key West, 
and some of them are quite well informed. 
8 According to Cantor the “Batrachus grunniens” of Indian waters is 
considered by the natives of the Malaccan coast to be poisonous. Pellegrin 
enumerates it as one of “ Poissons vénéneux” (1899, p. 95), but adds that 
no confirmatory experiments have been signalized. 
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