10 THE NEW ART OF BREEDING FISH. 



the same manner, by passing over and pressing upon 

 the gravel, emits the milt, or soft roe, which covers 

 and fecundates the eggs ; then with tail, fins, head, 

 and belly he works away till he manages to cover 

 the eggs with gravel. 



Now a second female commences, and in the 

 same manner lays her eggs in a parallel line with 

 and against the first row. When the fecundation is 

 complete, which generally happens in about fifteen 

 days, according to the number of fish, all unite in 

 heaping up stones and gravel in mounds upon the 

 eggs, in a rhanner resembhng the great ant hUls that 

 may be found near by. 



Mr. Gehin believes that their mason-work is, in 

 a manner, cemented by a slimy secretion, with which 

 they cover the stones, while incessantly rubbing over 

 and pressing against them in heaping them up ; for 

 he found it difiicult to destroy the mounds so formed 

 by scratching apart the material with his fingers. 



The eggs remain in this way for a month or two, 

 while the process of incubation goes on ; at the end 

 of a time which Mr. Gehin could not precisely de- 

 termine, the little fish appear about the size of pins, 

 come out of their cell between the interstices of the 

 gravel, and seek in the tranquil waters, near the 

 shores, a place of safety. 



Having thus discovered nature's secrets, it re- 

 mained to discover a mode of rendering them practi- 

 cally useful, and not until after many failures did 

 Gehin and Remy hit upon a sure process, incontes- 



