in Confinement. 3637 



have placed numerous particles of sand and small pebbles. This spot 

 he guarded with the utmost jealousy, continually starting from his po- 

 sition and attacking the other fish with most extraordinary fury. The 

 desperate ferocity with which this fish attacked the others, and the 

 continued turmoil the whole pond was kept in, determined me to do 

 a most absurd act, which I instantly afterwards regretted, and my want 

 of knowledge of the subject at the time had prevented my foreseeing, 

 namely, to remove this fish from the pond. I therefore caught it in a 

 small muslin net, and without the slightest trouble, as he attacked the 

 net the instant it was introduced. But what was the consequence ? 

 No sooner was he removed from the water, than the other fish darted 

 to the spot he had been protecting, pulled forth a mass of eggs which 

 had been deposited there, and which I had not previously seen, tore 

 it to pieces among them, and devoured it before I had time even to 

 shake my prisoner out of his confinement ; however, it taught me a 

 fact in Natural History, and it may perhaps be novel to others. So 

 ended my experience of 1851. 



Now I think it will be evident from what I have stated, that these 

 eggs must have been deposited by the female fish, and the nest made 

 around them afterwards ; and this I think was also the case with the 

 fish experimented on this year by my friend Mr. Gratton, who had a 

 fine brood of young sticklebacks hatched after fourteen or fifteen days, 

 the nest being formed immediately after the introduction of the fish. 



The appearance of the male fish during this spawning period is 

 beautiful beyond description. The eye is of the most splendid green 

 colour, having a perfectly metallic lustre, like the green feathers of 

 some species of humming-bird. The throat and belly are of a bright 

 crimson, the back of an ashy green, and the whole fish appears as 

 though it were somewhat translucent and glowed with an internal in- 

 candescence : his ferocity during this period is extraordinary. How 

 so small a creature can bear up so long under such a state of appa- 

 rent excitement appears marvellous. Later in the year the colours 

 slightly change, the back becomes more of a green tint, the throat and 

 belly of a paler red, and all the glowing appearance subsides. The 

 female fish is of a brown colour on the back, the eye also is brown 

 and the belly white. 



I now pass on to the present year, when I had the pleasure of see- 

 ing the nest built from the very commencement and through all its 

 stages. The place selected for the nest was the bare flat top of a piece 

 of oolite, where it formed a right angle by resting against the glass 

 partition which separated two of these ponds, in one of which were 



