Smithsonian miscellaneous collections . ng to Ayres (1842), bury them-selves in the mud and remain torpid, and are very frequently broughtup with the spear while striking in the mud for eels. One wascarried to Ayres which had been taken in this manner, October2y, 1840; it was torpid and lived nearly twenty-four hours withoutwater. Having received protection during the winter, in its muddy retreator water of considerable depth, from the conditions superinducedby the cold of the northern states, in the summer toadfishes closelyapproach the shore; this movement is to a large extent at leastinduce
Smithsonian miscellaneous collections . ng to Ayres (1842), bury them-selves in the mud and remain torpid, and are very frequently broughtup with the spear while striking in the mud for eels. One wascarried to Ayres which had been taken in this manner, October2y, 1840; it was torpid and lived nearly twenty-four hours withoutwater. Having received protection during the winter, in its muddy retreator water of considerable depth, from the conditions superinducedby the cold of the northern states, in the summer toadfishes closelyapproach the shore; this movement is to a large extent at leastinduced by the procreative instinct. In the southern states, theapproach to shore and the reproductive season commence earlier—in the Gulf of Mexico in April or May. The females and malesseek suitable places for the deposit of the eggs and the duties ofreproduction are duly assumed by the respective sexes. The eggsare large—very large as fish eggs go and almost as big as a wolf-fishs ; they have diameters of from 5 to 5^ millimeters, en-. FiG. no.—Common toadfish eggs on Pinna shell. After photograph by E. W. Gudger. larged by the extent of the yolk, devoid of oil-globules, and dirtyyellow, almost amber-colored. They are fastened to the surfacesof submerged objects of stone, wood, or what not, and a dis-coidal area or disk, about 3 millimeters in diameter at the upper 398 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [vol. 48 surface of each egg. glues the latter firmly to the supporting is manifested for the undersides of boulders, when suchare present, and under them the parent fish seem to clear away themud and thus form a retreat in which they may spawn. (Wherestones are absent the insides of oyster or other bivalve shells areselected.) The eggs may be attached to the roof of the littleretreat prepared by the adults, where the eggs are found spreadover an area about as large as ones hand in a single layer, hardlyin contact with each other, and to the number of ab
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Keywords: ., bookauthorsm, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectscience
