Note O — Chapter IV

Some of the osseous fishes are also viviparous—the "viviparous blenny," for instance. The evidence from which the supposed affection of the higher fishes for their offspring has been inferred, is, I am afraid, of a somewhat equivocal character. The love of the sow for her litter hovers, at times, between that of the parent and that of the epicure; nor have we proof enough, in the present state of ichthyological knowledge, to conclude to which side the parental love of the fish inclines. The connubial affections of some of the higher families seem better established. Of a pair of gigantic rays (Cephaloptera giorna) taken in the Mediterranean, and described by Risso, the female was captured by some fishermen; and the male continued constantly about the boat, as if bewailing the fate of his companion, and was then found floating dead.—See Wilson's article Ichthyology, Encyc. Brit., seventh edition.