24 THE HUMAN SIDE OF PLANTS 
ing itself, but is used by the natives. They powder 
the leaves and mix them with sand and lime; the 
mixture is then scattered by divers in holes and 
caves where fish are plentiful. The fish become 
stupefied and immediately rise to the top where 
they are caught by the natives in small fish-nets. 
There are certain kinds of fish which for pur- 
poses of safety attach their eggs to aquatic plants, 
and as a result the seaweed forests are covered with 
millions of fish-eggs and nests. The close proxim- 
ity of these plants and fish results frequently in 
the imitation by the fish of both the appearance 
and the habits of the plant. An interesting exam- 
ple of this is the case of a strange fish which 
strongly resembles the sargasso, among which it 
lives and builds its nest. This floating nest is the 
repository of the fish’s eggs. The young hatch 
in their floating cradle, which not only affords 
them bits’ of green food to eat, but acts as a hid- 
ing-place against larger fish, for, as they are so 
strikingly like the plant of which their nest is 
composed, they are easily concealed. 
Perch invariably attach their nests to floating 
plants. 
There are other fish, like the stickleback, which 
build their nest of “weed” and attach it to a sta- 
tionary water plant, where it looks very much like 
