218 THE INFANCY OF ANIMALS 



of this kind. One of these is the gourami (Osphromenus), 

 and another the paradise fish (Macropodus viridi-auratus), 

 the foam being thrown from the mouth, and in this the 

 eggs are laid. In yet another, an African fish {Sar- 

 codaces odoe), the young, when the foam subsides, hang 

 suspended from the surface of the water by means of a 

 large sucker-like apparatus on the front of the head. 



Even where no nest is made the eggs are often most 

 jealously cared for by one or other or both of the parents, 

 but generally by the male. In the common lump-sucker, 

 for example, the eggs are deposited in the form of clumps 

 of spawn, sometimes of great size, measuring as much as 

 a foot in length, eight inches in breadth, and three or 

 four inches in thickness. To allow the water to penetrate 

 to the centre of the mass, and so secure the oxygenation 

 of the eggs, the male presses his head into the centre of 

 the clump when it is first deposited, and before the ad- 

 hesive secretion which holds the eggs together has hard- 

 ened. Thereby he presses the spawn firmly into the 

 crevices of the rock on which it is always laid, and prevents 

 the eggs from being too closely crowded, thereby suffo- 

 cating the embryos in the centre. 



From the moment he mounts guard all would-be 

 robbers are promptly driven off. Star-fish and crabs 

 make ceaseless attempts to get at the mass, and other 

 fish are no less persistent ; but their efforts avail nothing. 

 From time to time he pushes his head into the depressions 

 which he formed, and sends a powerful stream of water 

 into the mass of eggs — an artificial method of purveying 

 oxygen apparently absolutely necessary for the well- 

 being of the embryos. When the young appear new duties 

 await him, for they promptly attach themselves to his body 

 and are borne about by him, as in the case of some frogs. 



