4412 Fishes. 



quietly creeping up, watching its opportunity; on this the other, acting 

 on the defensive, would turn its broad side to the enemy, and, raising 

 the ventral spine, wait to receive the onslaught; the assailaut, intimi- 

 dated by this formidable demonstration, would then slowly retreat, 

 and in its turn had in the same manner to defend itself. After thus 

 advancing and retreating for a few times, one, taking advantage of an 

 unguarded moment, would rush in upon its opponent and butt at it 

 with its head, apparently endeavouring to bite; the other, rallying, 

 returned the compliment, and after dashing at each other in this way 

 two or three times, with extraordinary rapidity, the round would ter- 

 minate, and each fish retreat to its nest, to recommence its more im- 

 mediate nidimental duties. 



The fry were at first so minute and transparent that they could 

 scarcely be discerned as they lay partially concealed amid the meshes 

 of the nest : every now and then a slight fluttering motion betrayed 

 their position, otherwise it was almost impossible to distinguish them. 

 As I was closely watching their motions at this time, one of the newly 

 hatched Ashlings, with intrepidity beyond its experience, ventured to 

 pass the limits of its cradle : in an instant the watchful parent was 

 there, and with gaping mouth seized the little wanderer, which imme- 

 diately disappeared, the jaws having closed upon it. Seeing this, I at 

 once gave up the fry for lost, deeming that here w r as an instance of 

 instinct at fault, and that all the affectionate solicitude of the parent 

 was to end in its devouring its offspring. In this I was mistaken : the 

 old fish, quietly returning, dropped the straggler into its nest lively 

 and uninjured. During the whole of this day none of the fry were 

 permitted to ramble beyond the precincts of their fold; when any at- 

 tempted to do so — and many did attempt — they were invariably 

 brought back in the mouth of the parent: none escaped its vigilant 

 eye, and it was amusing to see with what a hurried, fluttering motion 

 the little things dropped almost perpendicularly down into the nest, 

 so soon as they were released from the jaws of the parent. 



It was three days before all the eggs were hatched, and the atten- 

 tion of the parent, during all this time, was unremitting. On the 

 second day I marked its manoeuvres for five minutes, and found that, 

 in this short period, it ventilated the nest eight times, warded off an 

 attack of the neighbouring fish, and brought back to the nest a strag- 

 gler or two. During this day the spawn was frequently examined by 

 the parent, who would occasionally seize hold of it and give it a good 

 shake ; apparently for the purpose of throwing off adherent matter, 

 that the water might freely circulate about the eggs. The parent 



