Sticklebacks. 1 6 1 



instead of gills, and from something like fishes, became 

 veritable frogs ! And then the fishing for sticklebacks, 

 when the sport would be arrested by observing the 

 wonderful playfulness of the surprising fighting-powers 

 of these little rascals of the tiny pools — .these finny 

 spiny nest-builders of the miniature lakes that are to 

 be found in almost every bit of our British Isles. 



It would have added greatly to our interest had we 

 known more of the life-history of these wonderful little 

 fishes, as we know now. We saw them in their nests ; 

 we several times saw one of them hunting off and 

 fighting with others, but we had no one to tell us of 

 the reason that lay behind all this in their economy 

 and habit and style of life. We should then have found 

 a veritable fairy-tale. Our readers may perhaps be 

 pleased if we give them the benefit of what we then 

 lacked. The different species of sticklebacks are all 

 grouped scientifically under the strange-sounding name 

 of Gasterosteus. This Greek word literally means " bone- 

 bellied," and is thus finely descriptive. The bodies of 

 the sticklebacks are not furnished with scales, but, 

 instead, are defended by little spines or spikes rising 

 here and there (different numbers of them in different 

 species) from bands of bony matter. The male attends 

 very strictly to his domestic duties, as he sees them, 

 though he is certainly not content with one wife, or 

 with two even ; and his plurality of wives has much to 

 do with ensuring the stability and increase of the race. 



The very important work of building a nest is asso- 

 ciated in the male with the assuming of brighter colours, 

 which make him look more and more different from 

 the females as days go on, till finally he is a very gay 

 and smart little fellow indeed. He begins his task by 

 finding any loose fibrous substances he can about the 



