FISH THAT NEST.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 767, 16 March 1910, Page 5

FISH THAT NEST.

'WHAT MAY BE; SEEN' AT 'THE NEWTOWN. MIfSETO. Mr. J. E. E. Perry, in charge of the Newtown Library -and' Museum, writes in an interesting manner of the museum's "live stock," -in -which- a great deal of interest is . being manifested 'by regular visitors to the institution.' "We have," he : says, "a most interest-ing-collection of our native lizards—the tuatara, the green (which is found only on the North Island), and . the- spotted green, • which is ' found ' on : both islands; the ' long-toed lizard, a', .very: prettilymarked creature, but' a bit bashiul, and the ornamented, and-the common, bronze lizard/. Most of these'lizards, have bred here in captivity, and at present there are-the young of three different varieties in the case. ; .

■ "It, was really the fish, the beginnings of bur aquarium, that I wanted- to draw attention to. We have a tine lot of Paradise fish from China, ~ these have spawned t\pce this season; the first lot I lost, the second instalment; -have^been,hatched out nearly a month now, and make a most interesting exhibit, -and now a third lot of spawn is appearing. It is most interesting to watch the male fißh. -, He. does all of the attending to the spawn, and' the young fish. The pest they build consists of an accumulation of air mixed with a sticky, saliva, of 'the male, and it forms a fairly substantial mass, the spawn' is placed into this nest, and it frequently happens that : some of the spawn sinks to the ground; this is carefully gathered. up in the mouth of the male, and placed-in the nest. In' about a week the young: fish' can be seen, and there are generally 'some hundreds of them. The young: fish: often fall out ,of the nest, and here you 6ee the male gathering- them up m his mouth and shooting them back again into the nest. About a fortnight after hatching the adult fish have- to be taken away, or' t&«y will eat up the whole of the young, whicl) really happened to.my first lot., All_ of this, can be seen quite plainly, and a great number of people are ex-tremely-interested. I hope to soon have on exhibit our native carp, a most interesting little fish, of which there ire a number, up Lake Taupo way; also our native mountain trout, and our fresh water Crustacea. . ,

'Wo. have a live lot of Chinese newts. They are the. salamanders' of .old-time fame. They, practically live in the water during the 6unimer; and lie out on the stones dimng winter. Everything is .done, to interest the young people in these things, and if ,we have a good natural increase, of -specimens we will start some of our young. visitors in the keeping of aquariums of their own. . As .regards the green lizards, there is.^, great' interest taken in these by Scientific men in Australia, and I am wanting to ,get some . more . specimens. The average person is frightened of their .vivid.greenness, and their beautiful purple mouth,- and a big stick" or stone is secured at. once to. kill them. Well, thev are absolutely harmless, and can lie' easily handled.' In faot, they seem to like the warmth of the human : hand."