l86 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [vol.. 50 



oidean apparatus and the mandible, as well as the direction of the 

 stream, causing a current over the upper as well as the lower 

 branchiae. Thus, although the action of the branchial apparatus and 

 the heart was occasionally a little hurried in the warm sun, no serious 

 effect ensued. For five or six weeks this faithful male was found at 

 low water in this position, sometimes on one side and sometimes on 

 the other. In order to test it still further, Mr. Scharff removed the 

 fish a couple of yards from the eggs and placed it on a stone. It 

 wriggled actively into the water, at once rushed to the ova, and as- 

 sumed its former position with the snout almost touching the eggs. 

 The same ensued when it was placed in the runlet at a somewhat 

 greater distance. The solicitude of the males for the ova which 

 they have under charge was further illustrated by the occurrence 

 early in May of a heavy sea, which swept masses of the ova from 

 their positions all along the rocks. As soon as the sea became calm 

 numerous anxious males, like 'pilgrims,' were seen by the laboratory 

 attendant (who had been familiar with the sites) seeking for their 

 lost charges. Many of these masses of eggs were found on the 

 beach, so that the statement is probable. 



"As soon as the eggs were hatched the male was released, and the 

 young spread themselves over the rock-pools in the neighborhood in 

 hundreds. It is unlikely, however, that they are dispersed by spe- 

 cially adhering to the body of the male, though they quickly cling to 

 anything and even to each other. Their home appears for some 

 time to be the littoral region and especially the rock-pools, and they 

 are occasionally found in considerable numbers in August, when the 

 larger examples caught with a hand-net measured about % inch. 

 They adhere to the blades of the tangles and other seaweeds, and 

 in the mazes of these find that safety (from the ready application 

 of their suckers) which would be denied them in the open sea. 

 When caught in the tow-net inshore it is generally along with float- 

 ing littoral seaweeds with which they have migrated." 



Fabricius (1780), generally a reliable authority, has told an ex- 

 travagant story of the valor and ability of the paternal Lumpfish. 

 According to him it fears no enemy ; even if the Wolf-fish, armed, 

 though it be with terrible teeth, approaches its nest, it is wont to 

 pursue it and, fastening on its neck, bite and worry it to death. One 

 who knows the comparative structure of the two fishes must find it 

 difficult to credit such a tale. Nevertheless Fulton ( IQ06) does 

 "not think the story of Fabricius . . . need be doubted. The 

 courage and pugnacity of this usually docile and inoffensive fish 

 seem boundless when it is protecting its eggs, and in contests of this 



