EDITORIAL 
39 
understanding through the ignorance 
of disinterestedness, is told in the 
memoirs of Thomas Bellerby Wilson, 
a man of great wealth and a lover of 
all things in nature; a patron of the 
Academy of Natural Sciences and 
donator of hundreds of thousands of 
dollars to the cause : 
“During his residence in New Lon- 
don (Chester County, Penn., 1833-1841) 
tradition reports the surprise of the 
people in that vicinity when they saw 
him in his long walks along the brooks 
and through the fields, groves and 
woods, with his botany box on his back, 
his entomological net in his hands, the 
handle of his geological hammer ex- 
tending from his coat-pocket and his 
hat covered all around with beetles, 
butterflies and other insects which he 
had pinned thereon.” 
So the words of that wise philosopher 
of years gone by, Samuel Johnson, come 
back with added meaning: “Nothing 
has retarded the advancement of learn- 
ing more than the disposition of vulgar 
minds to ridicule and vilify that which 
they cannot understand.” — I. Foster 
Moore in editorial in the Bridgeport 
(Conn.) Post. 
This reminds me of the arrest of a 
doctor in Hartford, Connecticut, a few 
years ago on the supposition that he 
was crazy because he was out with a 
net at night searching around the elec- 
tric lights for moths. It is said that it 
cost the policeman who arrested him a 
box of cigars when the doctor, who 
fully appreciated the joke, arrived at 
the station house. He was one of the 
most prominent physicians of Hartford 
but the policeman had not before made 
his acquaintance. 
A Nest of Floating Bubbles. 
“Aquatic Life” publishes an interest- 
ing article on the peculiar nest of the 
fighting fish. The little ones are 
hatched within a nest of floating bub- 
bles, and should one tumble out and 
settle to the bottom of the water, the 
male fish sucks the recreant youngster 
into his mouth, goes near the surface of 
the water and literally gives the little 
fellow a “blowing up” into his bed 
again. We quote from the article as 
follows : 
“The male blew a number of bubbles 
on the top of the water. Rising to the 
surface, a mouthful of air was taken 
and retained for two or three seconds, 
during which time it received a coat- 
ing of mucus. The bubble thus formed 
was blown at the surface, and the 
operation repeated until a circular mass 
TIIE FLOATING BUBBLE NEST. 
was produced, three inches in diameter. 
Another layer of bubbles was next 
blown, which had the effect of raising 
the first out of the water. Seven or 
eight layers were formed in all, but as 
the later bubbles were blown only 
under the central portion, a dome- 
shaped structure resulted. So viscid is 
the secretion enclosing the bubble that, 
though exposed to the air for ten or 
twelve days, it still fulfilled its func- 
tion. 
THE FISH THAT MAKES BUBBLES. 
“On the third day the nest was com- 
pleted and breeding commenced. * * * 
After the eggs are extruded the male 
takes up a position below his mate and 
secures them, to the number of six or 
so, in his mouth. He there gives them 
a coating of mucus and places them 
beneath the bubbles, to which they ad- 
here. The scene is re-enacted until 
from one hundred and fifty to two hun- 
