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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLI 



the shores the ground is covered with logs and bushes. Ground 

 suitable for spawning covered by a moderate depth of water is 

 rare. In nearly every case where the nests were seen the bottom 

 consisted either of large boulders and cobbles, or of soft materials 

 and sand with a certain admixture of partly decayed logs and 

 lower types of plant life, chiefly algse. On this bottom the conical 

 heaps of stones were built up. It seems not unnatural to suppose 

 that they serve the dual purpose of offering a clean gravel surface 

 for the deposition of the eggs, and at the same time raise these 

 eggs nearer the surface of the water and thus into a zone of more 



light and warmth tlian if they wcrv dcpositc'd dirc(;tly upon the 

 bottom. 



The fish which are said to be the arcliitccts of curious 

 nests vary in size up to about 18 inches in Iciiuih. .iiid in weight 

 up to about two pounds or a Httle over, 'i'hcir vcntial nspoct is 

 white, the dorsal dark gr;iy-])lack, and the broad sides me silver 

 white. The cycloid scales mv li.ruv and dii.-k, ;iiid di<- t.ody is 

 about three times as dccj) wide. The tliinl pliitr ^hows a 

 specimen about 14 iiichrs in Icnuih which was ca])inrcd and laid 

 upon the nest before making the j)i('turc. rresident David S. 

 Jordan to whom these data have been submitted considers that 



