FRESH-WATER FISH AND MOLLUSCA. 65 



great distances. With these he first constructs his found- 

 ation, and as each layer is formed, covers it with sand to 

 give it weight, keep it in place and prevent it from being 

 washed away by the stream. He then rubs himself care- 

 fully and well over all these layers, and a glutinous sub- 

 stance that exudes from his skin furnishes a cement that 

 secures the whole. With roots and twigs he attaches 

 the floor, thus reared, permanently to its anchorage- 

 ground. This done, he erects his uprights, fills in the 

 sides and top, cements the entire edifice as before, and 

 completes a tidy, well-inclosed, comfortable dweUing, with 

 two orifices for entrance and retreat. With a home of 

 his own — every stickleback is his own landlord — it is to be 

 presumed he then settles down, a well-behaved family-fish, 

 and attends to the marital duties which nature has set 

 before him. 



The Minnow is so called from minimus, the least ; be- 

 cause, with the exception of the stickleback, he is the 

 infinitesimal specimen of fresh-water fish. He is handsome, 

 lively, exceedingly agile, uncommonly graceful, very 

 hardy, and in all respects a very '^pink" amongst his 

 congeners. In fact, he is known in popular parlance as 

 the Pink in some quarters ; but that is probably on ac- 

 count of his summer wardrobe. His back is ordinarily a 

 fresh olive-green in color, very glittering in the sun-light, 

 and shades to a silvery white beneath. This white, in 

 warm weather, is delicately tinjfeed with rose. The min- 

 now is readily tamed. With a little patience he can be 



