42 CORA D. REEVES. 



case he immediately returns. Each spawning area has a num- 

 ber of such holdings guarded by the large males. 



i . Behavior of a Large Male toward a Female. 



When a female enters the holding of a large male it rarely hap- 

 pens that the two are left undisturbed. Usually their behavior 

 is greatly complicated by the interference of other males, but for 

 the sake of clearness we may first consider what happens when 

 the two fish are left undisturbed. 



The female usually swims into the holding from below. The 

 male then approaches her from behind as she lies on the bottom 

 with her head up stream. He often places himself behind her, 

 his body parallel with hers and with his snout touching her side 

 near the posterior margin of the first dorsal. While in this posi- 

 tion he may move his head with a trembling, vibratory motion. 

 This vibration appears to have a rate of from four to eight per 

 second and must cause a gentle tapping of the side of the female. 

 The male may now move away from the female for some inches 

 and upon returning, may place himself above the posterior part 

 of her body and may then again move off for two or three inches 

 and return. He becomes ever more excited in his movements 

 and may at times place himself at right angles to the female an 

 inch or so from her head and then vibrate his pectoral fins and 

 head and elevate his gill-covers somewhat more than usual. This 

 is not a very frequent mode of behavior but it may serve to dis- 

 play the colors of his cheeks, opercula and throat to the female. 

 At any time the female may withdraw a few inches to one side. 

 Once I counted ten such successive side-wise moves by a single 

 female, each of two to four inches. The male followed after each 

 move ; sometimes he came near enough to tap her side, while at 

 other times he lay at a distance — not exceeding three inches — 

 and seemed to watch and to wait. If disturbed, as she sometimes 

 is, by the vigorous taps or pokes of the male, the female may swim 

 off for a few feet. To do this she often drops back and to the 

 side, then turns and dashes up stream. She may thus escape 

 pursuit by the male. On the other hand if the female starts 

 directly forward while the male is near he follows very closely, 

 since he appears to interpret the forward motion as the sign that 



