l84 THE INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS. 



flattened and monstrous head gives it a strange 

 aspect, and it is marbled with brown and yellow. 

 These colours are those of the tufts of floating sea- 

 weed around it, and, thanks to this arrangement, it 

 can easily hide itself amid them without being re- 

 cognised fi'om afar. This animal constructs for its 

 offspring a fairly safe retreat. The materials which it 

 employs are tufts of Sargasso so abundant in this por- 

 tion of the Atlantic. It collects all the filaments, and 

 unites them solidly by surrounding them with viscous 

 mucus which it secretes and which hardens. When its 

 work is sufficiently firm not to be destroyed by the 

 waves it lays its eggs in it, and the floating nest is 

 abandoned to its fate. The little ones come out and 

 find within it a sufficient protection for their early 

 age. These dwellings thus floating on the surface 

 of the sea are rounded and about the size of a 

 cocoa-nut. 



In Guiana and Brazil another species, the Chcestos- 

 tomiis picius, is found, which is equally skilful. With 

 aquatic plants it constructs a spherical nest and 

 arranges it in the midst of the reeds, level with the 

 water. At the lower part a hole is left, through which 

 the female comes to lay. After fertilisation, the couple, 

 as is rarely found among fish, remain in the neigh- 

 bourhood of their offspring to assist them if necessary. 

 This praiseworthy sentiment is often the cause of 

 their ruin. The inhabitants of the banks speculate on 

 the love of these fish for their offspring to gain 

 possession of them. It is sufficient to place a basket 

 near the entrance of the dwelling, which is then lightly 

 struck. The animal, threatened in its aff"ections, darts 

 furiously forward with bristling spines and throws 

 itself into the trap. 



