Evening star., 1934-08-21
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES f. TRACEWELL.

For the man interested in fishes
nothing is easier. He knows all he
has, their approximate size and age,
and, what is more, their life habits.
If he is home aquarium enthusiast
his knowledge of the tropical fishes in
his tanks probably will amaze the per-
son who has never considered fishes
in any way except as something TO be
caught on hooks.
Can such things be?" he will won-
der to himself, as he is shown fish
with an unusually large mouth. and
is told that this is a specimen of the
Egyptian mouth-breeder, and that
the mother fish carries the eggs in
her mouth for two weeks, which time
they take to hatch. During that
period she does not eat, nor does she
swallow the eggs. After the fry are
free-swimming. on the slightest alarm.
such as jarring of the aquarium.
they swim back into the safety OF the
mothers capacious jaws.
The visitor will be told of the "bub-
ble-nest" builders, fishes which con-
struct true nests OF air bubbles, held
together by mucous. in which the
eggs are deposited. and in which they
are kept by the father. who faithfully
picks up those that fall down and re-
places them in the nest.
After the fry hatch out they are
kept in the nest for a few days.. The
father watches over them, picking up
in his mouth any that fall to the
bottom Of the aquarium and replacing
them with its mouth in a bubble Of
oxygen.
There are other fishes which lead
their shoal Of fry around the aquar-
ium, one in front and one behind, on
the search for the minute microscopic
creatures which furnish the food for
the youngsters during their first few
weeks in the watery world.
X
Perhaps few persons, first witness
ing or being told of such things, would
dare rush down town to report their
findings as news"
Yet 1t is a curious thing how so
many persons do want other people
to express the same great astonish-
ment over something which they have
discovered in Nature as they them
selves are expressing when other peo-
pie may have been acquainted with
the facts since childhood.
One should be very cautious in re-
garding as discovery anything in the
natural line. Nature is so old! And
intelligent men have been regarding
her and her children for centuries.
Only when such a man as Audubon
has the first-hand opportunity to
travel over a new continent can a man
faithfully believe that what he finds
must be new"
One must get back to human nature
"in the raw" before being able TO pin
down. more or less. exactly the why
and wherefore of the man who. never
having given a thought to Nature, yet
thinks that he has made q "discov-
cry" just because he happens to see
something horribly new to him.
Dear old divine conceit Is the key
to the problem. The average person,
terribly interested in himself and what
may advance himself, has never, in
his office job, let us say, regarded
squirrels as in any way offering him
an opportunity to make money.
Therefore he has disregarded them,
until one day he happens to see one
walking wire across a busy street.
Why, look at that squirrel! Who ever
heard Of squirrel doing that? have
never heard Of squirrel doing that,
have !? And therefore, II haven't, is
1t possible that some other person has?
Preposterous! have just seen It;
Therefore it must be new. mustn't it?
The ease with which the great aver
age man manages to hold the honest
belief that he really ought to know
everything, even If he doesn't, Is one
of the standing miracles of human ma
ture,