c.ji.lI 



THE LUMPSUCKER 185 



gave the fish its opportunity. It seized the crab in its mouth and 

 swam off with it to the furthest corner of the tank, where it dropped 

 it." Under other conditions, doubtless, it might have at once swal- 

 lowed it. 



V 



The spawning season is quite long, extending from February to 

 June, the season depending somewhat on the temperature and place, 

 but even in a single place it may be prolonged. Mcintosh, for in- 

 stance, found that at St. Andrews "it ranges from February to May," 

 and he was corroborated by Fulton (1906), who found that the 

 spawning season for Scotland generally extended "from February 

 to nearly the end of May." In one year noted by Mcintosh (1886) 

 "it was especially late, probably from the severe and long-continued 

 winter. The young captured during the first ten days of July there- 

 fore showed considerable variation in size." Fabricius records that 

 in Greenland oviposition occurs about the end of May or the begin- 

 ning of June, the abbreviation of the season doubtless being deter- 

 mined by the brevity of the summer. 



The male parent has been long known to keep a watchful guard of 

 the eggs of the female, and it has been even claimed that he made 

 a nest. Mcintosh, however, especially asserts (1886) that "the 

 Cyclopteri form no nests, the ova being deposited chiefly on the sides 

 of rocks and stones." Often the precious burden is laid in such low 

 water as to be almost exposed at low tide, and the zealous male, re- 

 gardless of clanger, is then so careless of self as to permit a close ex- 

 amination. Mcintosh (1886) has given interesting details respect- 

 ing one he had observed : 



"About the middle of May a male Cyclopterus was found a short 

 distance from low-water mark in a broad runlet with his head close 

 to a mass of ova placed in the seaward edge of a stone. The stream 

 of sea-water was so shallow as to leave the stone partly exposed, and 

 was quite insufficient to float the fish, which was 11^2 inches in 

 length. Accordingly, for a considerable period twice daily the de- 

 voted male had to lie in the runlet on his side, a portion of his body, 

 including the upper opercular region (in this position), being above 

 water. From the situation of the ova on the stone just described 

 the current of the runlet flowed into the mouth of the fish, which, in 

 the warm sun of June, must have been less comfortable than under 

 ordinary circumstances — a fact which is at variance with the 'acci- 

 dental' theory formerly mentioned. The cool and ever-changing 

 stream, however, sufficed for aeration, .the movements of the hy- 



