about the ponds and clear ditches of the country for living creatures with which to keep up the stock in the tanks and vases. A good appetite and invigorated health is sure to result; and if occasionally in our anxiety to get hold of some fine specimen we espy among the plants, a “tumble in” is the consequence, why, what fun it is! Home we go. Our merry sister, or good-tempered spouse, laughs well at us, and then quickly supplies clean dry clothes, not forgetting something with which to comfort the inner man. A short time ago, it was my good fortune to capture a pair, male and female, of the ten-spined stickleback—Gasterosteus Pungitius—perhaps the most savage of this lively, but quarrelsome, tribe. The three-spined I have possessed in abundance before, but never these. On popping them into an aquarium, the little creatures, as these merry fellows ever will, soon made themselves at home, and in a few hours were observed hurrying to and fro, as busy as possible, with shreds of “weed” in their mouths; in a few hours a perfect nest had been built the size of a small walnut, and there it was,— Ranunculua aqu~at-il1‘s, as we see the nest of a humming-bird depicted hanging from the branch of a tree. A hole was formed right through it, evidently for the female fish to rest in as she deposited her spawn or eggs.
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The lady wandered about the vessel, seemingly without much to care for, while the gentleman fish watched the nest with much apparent anxiety,
manifestly on guard to protect it from harm, or watch unwonted intrusion. A few days passed by,
and the novelty of the little fish building so sweet a nest attracted many prying eyes, and some pretty ones too,—-for more than one fair lady “took a peep.” Whether or not the eyes were too bright, or that the sticklebacks disliked such unwonted attention, must be left to conjecture; but this, alas, is a fact, that one night the little creatures resolved upon destroying their habitation, and had Ranunculua aqu~at-il1‘s, as we see the nest of a humming-bird depicted hanging from the branch was the of a tree. A hole was formed right through it, evidently for the female fish to rest in as she deposited her spawn or eggs.
The lady wandered about the vessel, seemingly without much to care for, while the gentleman fish watched the nest with much apparent anxiety, manifestly on guard to protect it from harm, or watch unwonted intrusion. A few days passed by, and the novelty of the little fish building so sweet a nest attracted many prying eyes, and some pretty ones too,—for more than one fair lady “took a peep.” Whether or not the eyes were too bright, or that the sticklebacks disliked such unwonted attention, must be left to conjecture; but this, alas, is a fact, that one night the little creatures resolved upon destroying their habitation, and had carried out their resolve, leaving hardly a shred to be seen.
I have since procured several of the same species, but as yet they have evinced no sign of building a nest.
RIVER SCENES IN CHINA.
Towards the end of last year two sets of people were staring at each other with the utmost inten sity for nearly eight weeks. To all appearance the mutual study left them mutually pleased; and, if so, the only thing to be wished is, that we could a beautiful object, depending from a stalk of learn the precise impression made on both parties as accurately as we can on one. The one party was the population along the banks of the great Chinese river, the Yangtse, from its mouth to the group of three large cities, six hundred miles up; and the other party was the British Embassy. Six hundred miles may appear a small portion of a river which measures upwards of three thousand, but it is enough to carry strangers into the heart of China, where they can see the genuine Chinese people living in their ordinary way, and unmixed with such a sophisticated population as that of Canton, and of all the ports where foreigners trade and reside.
For four hundred miles up, the tides affect the surface of the vast stream, while its mass of waters keeps its way below, to the sea, for ever deepen ing its channel, and draining the interior of the country from side to side, after having done the