ble way. Just
at the time she lays her eggs, the skin of the under surface of her
body becomes swollen and spongy, and into this she presses her eggs by
lying on them. Here, snugly sheltered, they remain till hatched! The
curious 'sea-horse' has adopted a yet stranger contrivance, the fins and
certain special folds of the skin of the under sides of the body forming
a pouch, into which the eggs are placed, remaining till hatched. As soon
as this takes place the pouch becomes the nursery of the young ones.
But, strange though it may seem, this pouch is developed by the father
of the family, who does all the nursing!

[Illustration: FIG 3 THE ASPREDO CAT FISH]

Some of the cat-fishes--the Arius, for example--carry the eggs in their
capacious throats till they hatch! How the fish manages to prevent the
escape of his precious burden through his gills, or to prevent himself
from swallowing them, is something of a mystery.

[Illustration: FIG 4 PARADISE FISH]

Finally we come, I think, to the oddest of all these devices to ensure
the safety and well-being of the young. Thus, certain fishes related to
the wonderful Anabas--the perch that climbs trees!--make nests of
bubbles, in which the eggs are placed! The Gorami and the beautiful
little 'paradise-fish' (fig. 4), for example, built floating nurseries
of this kind, the bubble-raft being made by the male. In the case of the
paradise-fish these bubbles are blown so that the enclosed eggs are
raised above the level of the water, where they remain till hatched!
This raft, although it has been seen many times by travellers, is so
frail that it cannot be preserved, and has never yet been drawn by an
artist, so that we can only show the fish that makes it.

W. P. PYCRAFT, F.Z.S., A.L.S.

[Illustration: "Fast asleep!"]

THE POLICEMAN'S JOKE.

It was a bitterly cold night, but Jones, the watchman at the hole which
was being dug in the street at Armstrong Square, knew how to take care
of himself. 'I do not mean to freeze if I can help it!' he remarked to
his friend, the policeman, who was going round the square on his beat.

'Don't make yourself too comfortable, that's all,' said the policeman,
in a warning voice, as he saw Jones settle himself snugly in his rough
shelter with a big coke fire in front of him and a thick sack over his
knees. 'Maybe, if you fall asleep, you will wake up to find that some
rascal has made off with all the spades and pickaxes, and then your