NIGHTINGALES NEAR LONDON.-We had Nightingales here early in May this year, and still have them, as has been usual for many years with us. Distance from Shoreditch Church, two miles and a half.-W. Reddall, Stamford Hill,

MARKINGS OF LEPIDOPTERA.-What is the cause of the variation in the markings of Lepidoptera? The small white cabbage butterfly (Pieris rape) which I have been rearing, are nearly all without the black spots; some of them entirely white on the upper surface. Another batch of pups obtained from the same garden are now emerging, and are of the ordinary type. What occasions the difference; has excessive moisture or dryness anything to do with it ?—G. T. P.

WILKIN, QUILKIN, ETC. I find that in Dr. Borlase's "Cornish Glossary" Gwilkin and Quilquin are given as the words for the frog, from which it appears that they are genuine Celtic terms.-W. R. Tate, 4, Grove Place, Denmark Hill.

BIRDS POISONING THEIR YOUNG.-(See p. 141.) In a little village in Cheshire, where I once resided, lived an old man, who regularly year after year, reared a brood of song thrushes, taken from a nest, built in a cherry tree in his garden, these were confined in a cage, and fed by the parent birds; but never were poisoned or destroyed, as the old man was famed for his thrushes. This is only a solitary instance, many more might be enumerated; on the contrary, I know not a case where the birds were poisoned.-R.

ALAS, POOR HEDGEHOG!-The other day I caught a hedgehog, which was running about. There were several blue-bottles on it, which were laying a great number of eggs. Would these hatch; and if hatched could they penetrate the skin of the live hedgehog? -C. K., Christchurch, Hants.

BLUE EGGS OF CHAFFINCH.-I took this spring a chaffinch's nest, with three eggs of a blue quite as bright as a hedge-sparrow's; two of them had one spot on them, the other none. I know I was not mistaken in the nests, as I saw the old bird. I have often taken them of a dull blue, but never of this bright colour.-E. G. Wheler.

WATER-RATS. On the 14th May, while making a little voyage of discovery on our lake, I observed a curious looking nest among the rushes, just above the surface of the water. It was made of rushes, bitten into small pieces, and, in appearance, resembled a wren's nest, only larger. I put my hand in, and found three young water-rats. While I was examining them, the old rat swam close up to the boat before it saw me; it then dived, and reappeared about three yards off, on a heap of cut rushes. About a minute after, it was joined by the other old one, and they both watched me for some time. The next day the young ones had disappeared. I suppose the old ones had carried them away, as the little animals were blind, and the nest was some yards from the shore. On the 13th June I again visited the nest, which had been much enlarged, and found that the young ones had returned. I caught one of them, and it was about the size of a dormouse. The old one was busily engaged in gnawing the stems of the green rushes, which for yards round were bitten off. Can any one inform me whether water-rats usually build their nests in the water, and whether they are often seen in pairs ?-J. M. W. F.

PARROTS BREEDING. A lady residing near Cromer, in Norfolk, has for some years been in the habit of keeping parrots in a semi-wild state. She has now upwards of twenty, all of which live out of doors all winter, with the exception of one or two of a more delicate species. When I was there in the year 1864, there was one parrot, which had ́ had its toes frozen off, one hard winter and walked on its stumps. It had two white eggs laid in a sort of little coop, something like a dog's kennel; they were pure white, as W. S. J. states. In another part of the garden by the house, a pair had hatched one egg the year before, and when I saw it, it was a fine bird, as healthy as any of the others, and they had then got a nest with another very young bird in it, in a box where they had built the year before. The curious thing was that each parrot had a particular part of the garden to himself, and would not allow any other to intrude, unless he had a mate: they knew the gardener who fed them, and would perch upon his shoulder to be fed; but were suspicious of strangers: they very seldom strayed far. -E. G. Wheler.

STONES ON MOUNTAINS.-Can any of your readers enlighten me as to the origin of the loose masses of rough sharp stones which cover the sides and summits of Helvellyn, Cumberland, and other mountains in the vicinity? Not being, to all appearance, water-worn in the least, and occurring, as they do, on the mountain summits in as large quantities as in the valleys, I am unable to account for their presence by any natural process; but perhaps some geological subscriber could explain the matter, or direct me to some work where I may obtain information respecting it.-J. Q., Liverpool.

COMMON SNAKE.-Can any of your readers state from personal knowledge whether the common snake is found as far north as Yorkshire?-J. R. D. Bethune.

THE MORE THE MERRIER.-The enterprising naturalists of High Wycombe (Bucks) are about to publish a local quarterly magazine of Natural History, in which project we wish them success.

THE LOCUST-TREE.-The acacia, or, more correctly speaking, the false acacia, or locust-tree (Robinia pseud-Acacia), was first introduced into Europe by Vespasian Robin, forester to Louis XIII., in the year 1635. The original tree, brought by Robin from North America, and planted in the Jardin-des-Plantes, is still in existence, and is now putting forth a few leaves. In 1815 it began to show symptoms of decay, but the branches being lopped, the trunk shot out with redoubled vigour. Mr. Loudon visited this veteran in 1835, and it was then thirty-five feet high, but in its prime it was nearly twice that height. It has now dwindled down, and its worm-eaten and wrinkled trunk is carefully supported by iron bands, so as to prolong its existence as much as possible. The appearance of the leaves is looked forward to with much interest and anxiety by the visitors to the garden, as it is feared that every year may be its last.-The Builder.

"IF anybody with ordinary powers of observation and description will go anywhere and relate what he sees and hears faithfully, he can scarcely fail to interest those who listen to him. It is when people write all out of their own heads that they are dull and incomprehensible."-All the Year Round, May 12th, 1866. 1

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

ALL communications relative to advertisements, post-office orders, and orders for the supply of this Journal should be addressed to the PUBLISHER. All contributions, books, and pamphlets for the EDITOR should be sent to 192, Piccadilly, London, W. To avoid disappointment, contributions should not be received later than the 15th of each month. No notice whatever can be taken of communications which do not contain the name and address of the writer, not necessarily for publication, if desired to be withheld. We do not undertake to answer any queries not specially connected with Natural History, in accordance with our acceptance of that term; nor can we answer queries which might be solved by the correspondent by an appeal to any elementary book on the subject. We are always prepared to accept queries of a critical nature, and to publish the replies, provided some of our readers, besides the querist, are likely to be interested in them. We cannot undertake to return rejected manuscripts unless sufficient stamps are enclosed to cover the return postage. Neither can we promise to refer to or return any manuscript after one month from the date of its receipt. All microscopical drawings intended for publication should have annexed thereto the powers employed, or the extent of enlargement, indicated in diameters (thus-X 320 diameters). Communications intended for publication should be written on one side of the paper only, and all scientific names, and names of places and individuals should be as legible as possible. Wherever scientific names or technicalities are employed, it is hoped that the common names will accompany them. Lists or tables are inad-, missible under any circumstances. Those of the popular names of British plants and animals are retained and registered for publication when sufficiently complete for that purpose, in whatever form may then be decided upon. ADDRESS No. 192, PICCADILLY, LONDON, W.

C. A. J.-The work on Aquaria will not be ready for some time.

E. H. L.-See notes on "Mounting Polyzoa," in SCIENCE GOSSIP, vol. i. pp. 65, 93, 94.

L. N. P.-Your fungus is the "Nettle Cluster-cups," Ecidium Urtica. See Microscopic Fungi, p. 14, plate I., fig. 10.

W. T. H. should insert the scientific names of the insects required.

B. S.-Asplenium marinum is found at a greater distance from the sea than you name. It is common on rocks near the Lakes of Killarney, but evidently its favourite locality is the clefts of sea-rocks or cliffs.

G. W. G.-Your specimen is one of the starry puff-balls, Geaster hygrometricus, certainly not one of the commonest species.

J. R.-There is a common proliferous variety of the double daisy, like the specimen enclosed. The single daisy is sometimes also proliferous. See SCIENCE GOSSIP, vol. i. p. 182. E. L.-Your spec men was forwarded to our contributor "B."

A. M.-The small red excrescences on sycamore leaves are a kind of gall produced by insects.

S. F. C.-Not in "our line." If we answer one such query, we shall soon have many proposed.

C. A.-No. 1. Littorina tenebrosa apparently, but the shells are much covered with algæ. No. 2. Assiminia Grayana. You should have stated their habitats; please do so.-J. E. G. E. B.-Your insect is Chrysis ignita, "the Golden Wasp." -F. W.

R. L.-Your flies are Bibio Johannis, so named because the time of appearance is nearly that of St. John's day.-F. W. T. S.-No. 1 is Anduna fulvicrus. No. 3, Bibio Marci, so named because the time of its appearance is nearly that of St. Mark's day.-F. W.

R. W. P.-No. 2 is the Bee Hawk-moth, Sesia bombyliformis, I should suppose from your rough sketch. It is always better to forward a specimen.-F. M. No. 1 is Bombylius major,

Linn.-F. W.

M. R.-Your green scum is Euglena viridis, common in stagnant water.

Geo. F.-No. 1 is Valerian (Valeriana dioica). No. 2 is Pepperwort, Thlaspi arvense.-L.

B. F. M.-It is the Bird's-nest Orchis, Neottia nidus-avis, Rich.-W. C.

R. W.-Although the small mites found on the corolla of a cucumber in a frame bear a strong resemblance to the Aropoda, which infest the bodies of other insects, I believe they are Notaspis obscurus, Koch (Cont. Panz., 132, 5).— 1. 0. W.

T. W. B.-It is impossible to determine a Noctuideous caterpillar in such a shrivelled condition as yours arrived. -1.0. W.

W. H. B.-Your orchis is certainly Ophrys apifera, Huds. -W. C.

R. H. H. A.-We cannot depart from our rule. Postage stamps are not generally regarded as forming any part of Natural History.

J. B. We are aware that the reasons given by Geo. F. Smith (p. 140) are not original, but copied from "Waterton's Essays." It would have been better for him honestly to have stated as much.

AN APOLOGY.-Correspondents who may have looked in vain in the present and past number for their communications must not suppose that consequently we have arrived at unfavourable conclusions regarding them. The fact is, that we have for some time past been in possession of far more "accepted copy "than we have been able to publish. Hence we have been compelled to make a selection, in the hope that at some future time we might be able to print all the communications now in arrear. Whilst thanking our numerous contributors for their hearty and zealous co-operation, we must beg their forbearance if we are reluctantly compelled to postpone their communications and inflict disappointment.

A. L. T.-Nothing extraordinary in the circumstance. The small objects were undoubtedly the eggs of the insect. E. H. W.-The bivalve was apparently Pisidium amnicum, but was broken up, so as not to be casily identified.

T. R. J.-Improved Ball's dredges may be had of Mr. Highley, Green Street, Leicester Square.

E. C. J.-You would find all the information you desire concerning British land shells, &c., in Tate's "British Molluscs." We cannot answer in full questions which a good manual would solve.

W. A. G.-The parasite of Zootoca vivipara is a species of Dermanyssus, possibly D. lanius, or, more probably, new, but there was only one specimen in the quill, which was carelessly closed.-I. O. W.

EXCHANGES.

ADVERTISEMENTS.-Specimens offered for sale must be inserted and paid for as Advertisements. Only those submitted for exchange or gratuitous distribution can be inserted here free of charge.

SPICULES AND EARTHS.-Ten slides for exchange.-J. A., jun., 12, North-terrace, Clapham, S.

PLATINOCYANIDE OF MAGNESIA AND SALICINE (mounted) for Deutzia scabra or other objects.-J. A., 81, Litchfield-road, Tredegar-square, Mile-end-road.

CARABUS NITENS and Cicindela campestris for any other good beetles.-H. Hutchinson, Waring Green, Brighouse. PUPE OF LEPIDOPTERA.-W. T. H., at Mr. Dry's, opposite East-street, Old Kent road, London.

BIRDS' EGGS for ova, larvæ, pupæ, or imagos of Lepido. ptera.-G. T. Porritt, 8, Clare-hill, Huddersfield.

CUTICLES OF LEAVES AND PETALS, also FORAMINIFERA and DIATOMS.-T. Brittain, Fallowfield, Manchester.

ECHINUS SPINES.-Mr. W. A. Lloyd has sent us a few sections for distribution on receipt of stamped envelopes. Address, W. A. L., care of the Editor.

WHALEBONE.-Sections required by T. H. M., 78, Weekstreet, Maidstone.

EMPEROR MOTH (Saturnia pavonia).—Larvæ required for shells or ferns.-E. C. J., Eldon Vilia, Redland, Bristol.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

"The Autobiography of a Gossamer Spider," by Michael Westcott. London: Groombridge & Sons.

"The Autobiography of a White Cabbage Butterfly," by Michael Westcott. London: Groombridge & Sons.

"Dr. Gairdner on the Function of Articulate Speech, with a Case of Aphasia." Glasgow: Bell & Bain. "North Staffordshire Field Club." Reports 1865-6. Hanley: Allbut & Daniel.

"Nature and Art," No. 1, June, 1866. London: Day & Son.

"Sur la Culture des Algues Marines," par M. Cohn de Breslau.

"Report of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club," 1865-66.

COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED.-S. J. McI.-C. A. J.-H. E.B. F. M.-A. M.-J. A.-E. H. H.-J. J. R.-J. A.-E. H. L.-J. R.-T. P. B.-L. N. P.-J. L. B.-H. H.-F. W.-W. T. H.J. H.-B.S.-E. B.-T. B. W.-E. S.-W.B.-G.W.G.-C.A.S. C.-R. L.-J. R.-C. A. (Tottenham)-J. G. B.-A. G. N. M. -S. A. S.-E. L.-J. C.-A. M.-G. T. P.-J. G.-S. F. C.R. C. D.-J. Q.-W. K. T.-P.-B. Melle-J. Y.-R. T. M. A. -G. E. F.-W. A. L.-R. W. P.-J. G. G.-R. H.-A. B. F.H. E. W.-N. E. C.-A. M.-J. C.-B.-E. H. W.-A. L. D.J. R.-J. B. A.-H. A. A.-J. M. F. W.-J. R. D. B.-T. W. (Hanwell)-W. R.-E. G. W.-R. H. H. A.-J. F. R.-G. S. -W. A. G.-E. C. J.-S. H.-T. D.-C. K.-H. W.-G. F. J. P.-W. H. E.-D. C. T.-F. H. M.-J. B.-W. E. W. O. W. T.-J. G. W.-J. A. M.-W. B.-H. T. K.-H. E. W. W. H. G.-F. A. A.

HIS interesting family of Coleopterous insects (Beetles) enjoys a greater popularity than any of its allies, their domestic habits and pretty appearance attracting the attention of the juvenile population, and their many virtues endearing them to persons of riper years. In most countries they have received pet names. In France they are regarded as sacred to the Virgin, and are called Vaches à Dieu, or Bétes de la Vierge; and with us, Ladybirds, Ladycows, and in Norfolk, "Bish-a-barna - bee," the latter cognomen being preserved by children in the chant wherewith they greet the appearance of these insects:

"The general colours are red or yellow, with black spots, varying greatly in number and size; or black, with white, red, or yellow spots. As, however, the union of individuals of opposite colours is of constant occurrence, the difficulty of investigating the species may be easily imagined. M. Audouin has published some interesting notes upon this subject, which appear to show that the result of the union of allied species in this group are sterile eggs. When alarmed, they fold up their No. 20.

legs and emit a mucilaginous yellow fluid from the joints of the limbs, having a very powerful and disagreeable scent, and which, according to some writers, is an admirable specific against the toothache. They creep but slowly, but fly well; are abundant in our gardens and plantations, where, both in the larva and perfect states, they are very serviceable in destroying the aphides upon various plants. And, inasmuch as they occasionally appear in such swarms as to attract public attention, the injury done by the aphides is, by ignorant persons, attributed to the more conspicuous Coccinellida. The eggs are deposited in small yellow patches in the midst of the plant-lice; so that the larva, when hatched, is in the midst of its food. The larva is depressed, and somewhat of an elongate-ovate form and fleshy consistence, having the three anterior segments the largest, and the abdominal segments tubercled and spotted, and emitting a fluid similar to that of the imago from the tubercles. When full grown, it attaches itself grown, it attaches itself to a leaf by the extremity of the body, casts off its larva skin, which is collected in a mass at the tail, within which the pupa also remains attached in this state." *

The great service which these insects render to man in the destruction of plant-lice is illustrated by a circumstance related by Kirby and Spence :

"In 1807 the shore at Brighton and all the watering-places on the south coast was literally covered with them, to the great surprise, and even alarm, of the inhabitants, who were ignorant that their little visitors were emigrants from the neighbouring hopgrounds, where, in their larva state, each had slain his thousands and tens of thousands of the aphis, which, under the name of the fly, so frequently blasts the hope of the hop-grower. If we could but discover a mode of increasing these insects at will, we might not only, as Dr. Darwin has suggested, clear our hothouses of Aphides by their means, but render our crops of hops much more certain than

* "Introduction to Modern Classification of Insects," vol. i. p. 396.

I

they now are. Even without this knowledge, nothing is more easy, as I have experienced, than to clear a plant or small tree by placing upon it several larvæ of Coccinellæ, or of aphidivorous flies collected from less valuable vegetables."

And in another portion of the same work the author says:

"As the locust-eating thrush accompanies the locusts, so the ladybirds seem to pursue the aphides; for I know no other reason to assign for the vast number that are sometimes, especially in the autumn, to be met with on the sea-coast, or the banks of large rivers. Many years ago, those of the Humber were so thickly strewed with the common ladybird, that it was difficult to avoid treading on them. Some years afterwards I noticed a mixture of species, collected in vast numbers, on the sand-hills on the sea-shore at the north-west extremity of Norfolk. My friend, the Rev. Peter Lathbury, made long since a similar observation at Orford, on the Suffolk coast; and about five or six years ago they covered the cliffs of all the watering-places on the Kentish and Sussex coasts, to the no small alarm of the superstitious, who thought them forerunners of some direful evil."

The Reading Mercury informs us that the authorities of a Berkshire town were alarmed in October, 1835, by a most formidable invasion of these beautiful insects, and that the parish engines, as well as private ones, were called into requisition, with

tobacco-fumigated water, to attack and disperse

them.

a

Fig. 156. Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata).
a, larva; b, pupa; c, perfect insect.

Curtis informs us that the ladybirds hybernate and pass the winter in the crevices of paling and trunks of trees under loose bark, in dry leaves, on the ground, &c., and are therefore ready on the shortest notice to come from their hiding-places, from which they are allured by the sunny days of December, and on the approach of spring are amongst our first vernal visitors, when the female lays her little eggs beneath leaves, close together, in clusters of about fifty. They are cylindrical, buffcoloured, and set on one end; from these, little sprawling larvæ soon issue, of a lead colour, gaily ornamented with orange or scarlet spots, and are soon spread over the leaves of trees, palings, grass in fields; indeed, everywhere in the vicinity of the

plant-lice, to which they are much more formidable than their parents. Their method of attacking the aphides is curious. I have seen one of these struggling, whilst this little insect alligator threw his forelegs about it, and was greatly amused at the skill it exhibited; for, fearing that the aphis might escape, it gradually slid along to the wings, which were closed, and immediately began to bite them, so that in a very short time they were rendered useless, being matted together; it then returned in triumph to the side of its helpless victim, and seizing the thorax firmly in its grasp, it ate into the side, coolly putting its hind leg over those of the aphis, whose convulsive throbs annoyed its relentless enemy. These larvæ are full-grown in about a fortnight or three weeks, when they are from a quarter to a third of an inch long and upwards; they are then slate-coloured and yellow, with numerous black spots and hairy tubercles down the back, intermixed with a few scarlet spots. They soon retire to a leaf or some secure locality, and attaching themselves by the tail, change to pups of a shining black colour, with a row of orange spots down the back. Thus they remain during another fortnight or three weeks, when the inmate bursts through her cell, and appears again a perfect ladybird.

THE END OF ODD FISHES.

SEVERAL observers had noticed certain remark

able appendages, as of frequent occurrence on individuals of most of the species belonging to the genus Aspredo. In the "Règne Animal," we find Cuvier alludes to them "as globules, which appear to be their eggs, adhering to the thorax by pedicles." Bloch also observed them, and not clearly understanding what such an unusual accumulation of strange-looking pores meant, described a species of the six-barbled Aspredo (4. sex-cirrhis) as being new to science, naming it Platystachus cotylephorus. In the Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, we read, “I have never seen them in the males, and the females do not possess them at all seasons." Here the author clearly imagines these appendages mark some peculiar condition of the female, an assumption more recent investigations prove to be quite correct.

The Aspredo batrachus, or toad-like Aspredo, is not by any means attractive as an object of beauty; the upper jaw, broad and flat, projects far beyond the lower, the eyes are small, and the ugly unkissable-looking mouth is further-I cannot say adorned, supplied will do-with eight long fleshy pendants, barbels or beards in other words, which dangle, like living fishing-lines, from different parts of this odd and ugly fish's face. Two barbels spring from the maxillary; these are dilated at their bases into broad ribbon-like membranes, from each of which sprouts a single baby-barbel; a third pair grow

from each corner of the mouth; and the fourth pair originate a short distance behind the third.

The ladies Aspredo are alone concerned in nursing their progeny, and on females only are the curious "fish-cradles" found, so specially contrived for the conveyance of the eggs. Dr. Gunther (to whom belongs the honour of first clearly pointing out the use of this obscure structure) says,* "The ovaria of the fish examined are two nearly empty sacs, with thick walls, as if the ova had just been excluded; some of them which had not been developed still remained between the folds of the interior. The whole lower surface of the belly, thorax, throat, and even a portion of the pectoral fins, showed numerous shallow round impressions, to which a part of the ova still adhered." Perhaps the reader has borne in mind what I said in a previous number in reference to the strange similitude there is betwixt the cellular-like cavities found on the back of the Surinam toad when compared to those on the under surface of the female Aspredo. Towards the time of spawning, the skin covering the lower parts of the female Aspredo becomes thickened, and assumes a spongy character. The spawn or ova are in all probability deposited, in the manner usual with most fishes, on a mud bank or in some other suitable locality. Then the mamma presses herself on the extended mass of roe, and in that way squeezes the eggs into the soft sponge-like skin of the abdomen; the throat and fins are also made available for the conveyance of the eggs. The spongy substance between the eggs is subsequently gradually absorbed by the pressure of the latter, excepting in the interspaces, where it remains in the form of the appendages previously described. What becomes of the infant fishes when they escape from this novel hatching-machine is not known. The only described species as far as I am aware-of this genus have all been brought from the river Gambia.

Many other species of Siluroid fishes take care of their progeny in different ways. The male (Arius fissus), it seems, carries a small cargo of eggs in its mouth. Dr. Gunther describes his finding two males whose stomachs were empty (hence it is fair to assume they were not in the act of devouring a breakfast of new-laid eggs). In the mouth of each fish, however, were about twenty eggs, "larger than a pea, perfectly uninjured, and in a forward state of development."

Europe possesses but one species of the Silurida, the Silurus glanis,—" glanis, a crafty fish, which bites away the bait without meddling with the hook," writes Pliny. Sly soever as it may be, nevertheless it shows some remarkable traits of parental instincts; papa and mamma sly Silurus both taking an active part in protecting their numerous children after they emerge from the eggs. The Sudas gigas, a

* Brit. Mus. Cat.-Fishes, vol. v. p. 173.

Siluroid found in the large rivers Amazon and Negro, and that, according to Schomburgk, attains to a weight of two hundred pounds, regularly bolts its entire family if apprehensive of danger. The roe is never deposited, but the young escape from the eggs whilst contained in the ovarium, and make their way into the cavity of the abdomen, where the hatching is completed. When sufficiently matured to risk an independent life, the numerous offspring issue forth, and, like a pack of aquatic hounds, swim in close companionship immediately above the mother's head. Should an enemy suddenly attack the little assembly, or other danger menace their safety, then, like an immense gateway, the mother's mouth spreads open, and presto, pass, in go the infant fishes, slam goes the gate, and safe as in a castle with drawbridge up and portcullis down, the fry lie ensconced in the chest of their mother.

The Gillbakra, a marine Siluroid, and the Zamlau, from the rivers of Guiana, in a like manner swallow their families and vomit them up again on the disappearance of danger. The latter fish is esteemed a great delicacy by the natives inhabiting the districts wherein it is found; but nevertheless catching it is a service of extreme danger. When hooked, the monster quietly swims off with the canoe and its freight of fishermen quite as easily as a Thames tug-boat paddles away with a long fleet of coal-barges; and as these rivers appear to be broken into numerous waterfalls, over which the "Zamlau" does not in the least mind taking a header-rather likes it than otherwise-the sport, to my fancy, must be far too exciting to be pleasant.

The "Hard-back," a fish belonging to the genus Callichthys, which is found along the coast of Guiana, builds a regular nest of leaves and grass-stalks, in holes in mud-banks not very far below the surface of the water; into these fish-nests the roe is placed. The eggs once safely deposited in the nest, let all fishes or other egg-loving enemies stand clear of the watchful mother; she never goes far from the nest, and is ready at any moment to do battle with friend or foe, if either dares approach her sacred charge.

Sir R. Schomburgk tells us that these fish ascend the trenches intersecting the sugar estates in spawning season, where they are easily taken in baskets placed near the nests. The male fish also aids in protecting the young. The nests are easily discoverable, as above each, a little patch of froth invariably accumulates on the water. The parent fishes, however, often fall victims to darkey cunning, from the fearless fury they display if their nests are interfered with The negro places both his hands under water, and gradually brings them towards the nest; the enraged fish dashes at the hands, but only to find itself deftly clutched in a living trap, from which it seldom escapes.

Another singular instance of a nest-building fish