18 G 
LUMPFISH. 
M'ere of a beautiful pink colour, lying apparently loose in the 
bag of the ovarium, as not attached to its sides, and only 
slightly to each other by means of a very fine filmy thread. 
Mr. Thompson informs us that in a fish fifteen inches long he 
found twenty-five ounces of roe, of which he weighed a di-achm, 
and from this quantity calculated that the number of the whole 
was very nearly a hundred and two thousand grains. In 
another instance we are told that what was collected after they 
were shed in a prepared place of deposit, amounted by 
measure to seven quarts; but it is obvious that this large 
quantity must have greatly exceeded the ordinary bulk of the 
parent fish; and yet we must not conclude that it was pro- 
duced by more than one female, but rather that after exclusion 
the grains had swollen greatly by the absorption of water, as 
is known to be the case with the frog and other creatures 
which shed their spawn in watery places. It seems certain 
that a cavity is formed, which has been termed a nest, for the 
reception of this treasure, and it is not improbable that the 
sucking organ is of some service in this important operation. 
But in addition to the instinctive intelligence which this implies, 
a high degree of conscious feeling has also been ascribed to 
both the parents, in which, indeed, the male is said to exceed 
the female. 
The French naturalist Lacepede refers in a florid manner 
to this supposed trait of character, in a class of animals which 
generally have been judged greatly deficient in this particular; 
and which in the Lumpfish is said to be not only shewn in 
providing a nest, but in carefully watching over the development 
of the young, as well after as before their escape from the 
egg, so as not to suffer an enemy to molest them. A similar 
tenderness has been said to exist also between the parents 
themselves, whose attachment to each other is thought as 
lasting as their lives, if, indeed, any human being can be 
supposed to bave had an opportunity of witnessing the con- 
tinuance of such an union. And yet the whole of this is not 
romance; for besides the formation of what may be termed 
a nest, which is placed not far from low-water mark, and 
in which they are more than imitated by several other fishes; 
both the parents have been seen to manifest considerable 
anxiety when watched and disturbed during the continuance of 
