Photo by W. Saville-Kent, I'.Z.S. 
SEA HORSES. 
The fish on the right is the expectaut father, who carries the eggs of his spouse in his pouch, and bears the baby brood until 
they are old enough to look after themselves. 
assists the female to build a nest and then mounts guard over and protects the eggs 
or spawn. The Sea Horse, however, is saddled with a much more arduous task. He 
cannot snatch so much as a moment’s respite from the paims and penalties of paternity, 
and transformed as it were into a species of peripatetic perambulator, must bear the 
burden of the eggs and baby-brood to the bitter end. In order to make suitable 
provision for this paradoxical domestic arrangement that Dame Nature and his lady-love 
have thrust upon him, the Male Sea Horse has a capacious front pocket-lke pouch— 
analagous to that of the Kangaroo, excepting for the fact that the parent, when once the 
youngsters have been ousted, takes good care that they never re-enter. 
In instances where a male fish acts only as a willing and zealous coadjutator 
in the task of guarding the eggs and infant brood, it may happen, as the following 
anecdote bears testimony, that quite a halo of romance may be interwoven with its hfe 
history. The particular fish which furnished the writer with the data here recorded was 
the common little rock-pool frequenting species known as the Smooth Blenny or Shanny. 
The species rarely exceeds a few inches in length but is remarkable for its intelligent 
features and agile habits. Not having a swimming-bladder or air-float it can only sustain 
itself in the water by special muscular effort, and customarily takes up its abode under 
stones or in some rock crevice, whence it darts out upon its prey or makes 
excursions in the surrounding neighbourhood. The eggs are laid by the female on the 
surface of the rock and both fish take a share in the duties of guarding them. The 
species 1s commonly kept in aquariums, and quite a number of them were confined in 
one of the tanks of the large aquarium which formerly existed at Manchester. High 
up on a narrow ledge of the rock-work of the tank a pam of Blennies decided to 
establish their home and rear a brood. Attention was first directed to the fact by 
the unusual commotion at this particular spot, one of the examples being in a 
