FRESH-WATER AQUARIUM. 69 



water with his fins, and at last, when the young are 

 hatched, watches over their attempts at swimming with the 

 greatest anxiety. Nor is this habit confined to the fresh- 

 water sticklebacks. A lady, writing to me from Aberdeen, 

 and describing her Aquavivarimn, says : ' A fifteen-spincd 

 stickleback (Gasfcroslcas sjpinachia) constructed a nest on a 

 piece of rock, which was covered with a fine green sea- 

 weed, and laced all together with a long thread, com- 

 posed, apparently, of some secretion. The fish afterwards, 

 for about the space of three weeks, Watched the nest, 

 never leaving it at all, save for the purpose of driving 

 away other fish when they approached too near. When a 

 stick was introduced into the vicinity of the nest, the fish 

 would fly, open-mouthed, to attack it, and would bite it 

 with great apparent fury. At the expiration of the above- 

 named time, the young fry made their appearance by 

 hundreds ; but I am sorry to say they soon disappeared, 

 being devoured by the other fish, and caught by the 

 tentacles of the sea-anemones. The mother-fish continued 

 her attendance at the nest as long as any of the young 

 fry were left.' 



" The stickleback is very tenacious of life, and will live 

 out of water for several hours. I was watching, a few 

 mornings since, on the sea-shore, where some fishermen had 

 left the refuse of their nets the night before : all the ani- 

 mals were dead, except a solitary stickleback, who still 

 survived, and on being placed in the sea, scuttled off 

 again as though nothing had happened. The fresh-water 

 species are often taken at sea at the mouth of rivers ; 

 aud Sir Edward Belcher informs me that he took a 



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