FIVK-BK\RDED ROCKLING. 
109 
deceased son Mr. Richard Quiller Couch, at the time when he 
lived at Polpcrro; and when he was engaged in watching a 
similar proceeding in the Fifteen-spined Stickleback. lie says, 
— The next nest shews considerably less skill, but more 
perseverance and energy. It is invariably formed of the common 
coralline, ( Corallina oficinalis,) in large quantity, put together 
without skill or arrangement, thrust into some cavity or crevice 
of a rock close to the low-water mark, and the materials are 
maintained there by no other bond than that of compression. 
And as the coralline of which it is formed is sometimes not 
to be found within the distance of one or two hundred feet 
of the selected spot, it must be gradually collected, and brought 
with a degree of perseverance at least equal to the intelligence 
displayed in the construction. But perhaps the most extraordinary 
part of the proceeding is shewn in the force exerted by the 
fish when thrusting it so firmly into the crevice or hole in 
the rock, and which we should have judged to be beyond the 
power of any fish we are acquainted with. The grains of 
spawn are small, their size being about the fifteenth of an inch 
in diameter; semitransparent and yellow. They are not con- 
tained in a cavity, like those of the Stickleback, but are 
scattered through the mass, sometimes indeed in clumps, but 
at others irregularly on the coralline. 
From the compact character of the nest, and that the grains 
are dispersed through all parts of its structure, it is evident 
that these grains of spawn must be deposited while the nest 
is in the progress of formation. Having preserved the ova in 
water until the young had come to life and escaped from 
their confinement, in order to be assured of the species to 
which they belonged, the conclusion drawn from their shape 
and spotted appearance was that they were the progeny of a 
species of Rockling; but on this point a less amount of 
certainty was felt, as from the almost inaccessible situation of 
the places in which the nests were placed, they could not be 
strictly watched when the tide had flowed sufficiently high to 
cover them. Whether any of these nests were permanently 
covered with the sea on the rocky coast where they occur 
remains uncertain, but with reference to the doubt here 
expressed with regard to the species of fish produced from 
these ova, on close observation I felt no doubt that they were 
