gill] the lumpsucker 187 



kind it not infrequently happens that courage and determination 

 count for as much as strength and the power of inflicting real in- 

 jur)." In this case it is the ability and not the courage of the fish 

 that need be doubted. The Wolf-fish that could be bitten and wor- 

 ried to death by a Lumpsucker must be small and weak indeed. 

 Mcintosh asserts that "even in its larval condition the young [Wolf- 

 fish j makes an easy prey of the young [Lumpsucker]." The Lump- 

 sucker's ability as a fighter is, in fact, very limited. His frame and 

 jaws are weak; his teeth small and insignificant as weapons. As 

 Fulton remarks, "his capacity as a defender of the eggs lay more 

 in his power of butting than of biting, for which his mouth is not 

 well adapted." 



The female naturally becomes proportionately turgid with the 

 growth of her eggs, and is "dark leaden blue or slaty colored" ; the 

 male assumes a bright reddish hue about his fins and his belly. 



There is a considerable disparity in size between the sexes, the 

 females averaging considerably more than a foot in length, while 

 the males are less. Seventy ''lumpsuckers taken from a salmon 

 stake-net in the Bay of Nigg," Scotland, "between 2d May and 24th 

 July" of one year, were measured by Dr. Fulton ; of these 40 females 

 averaged nearly 16 ( 15.8) inches in length and 6 pounds and 6 

 ounces in weight, while 30 males averaged 1 1 inches long and only 

 a pound and 14 ounces in weight. 



The eggs themselves are noteworthy for their gay and diverse 

 colors. According to Fulton, "when examined in the ripe female 

 before extrusion they are usually reddish or salmon tinted, but may 

 be lilac, pale violet, pale brown or pink. On extrusion they are 

 pink, but this tint fades on exposure to light, and gives way to a faint 

 greenish or yellowish hue ; later they become dark, owing to the 

 development in the embryos." In mass, they may constitute a quar- 

 ter to a third or more of the total weight of the mother. "The 

 average for three specimens examined" by Fulton was "27 per cent." 

 The same observer found that "the eggs measure about 2.2 mm— 2.6 

 mm., and have a volume of 4.18 cc." He estimated "them to number 

 from 79,758 to 136,764 in females a little over 18 inches long. The 

 fecundity of the Lumpsucker is therefore high." 



The favorite time for sexual congress appears to be night. Doubt- 

 less then males and females chiefly meet, but their manner of ap- 

 proach and love play, if any, have not been reported. Probably there 

 is a mutual excitation and play of the sexes. Then the female de- 

 posits a mass of eggs on some suitable ground and they are duly 

 fecundated by a male fish. Perhaps there may be male rivals in 



