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Cornugaya Directory 03
Page 06
A few female fish, on the other hand, even hatch the eggs within their
own bodies, and so apparently bring forth their young alive, like the
English lizard among reptiles. This, however, is far from a common
case: indeed, in an immense number of instances, neither parent pays
the slightest attention to the eggs after they are once laid and got
rid of: the spawn is left to lie on the bottom and be eaten or spared
as chance directs, while the young fry have to take care of
themselves, without the aid of parental advice and education. But
exceptions occur where both parents show signs of realizing the
responsibilities of their position. In some little South American
river fish, for instance, the father and mother together build a nest
of dead leaves for the spawn, and watch over it in unison until the
young are hatched. This case is exactly analogous to that of the doves
among birds: I may add that wherever such instances occur they always
seem to be accompanied by a markedly gentle and affectionate nature.
Brilliantly-coloured fighting polygamous fishes are fierce and cruel:
monogamous and faithful animals are seldom bright-hued, but they mate
for life and are usually remarkable for their domestic felicity. The
doves and love-birds are familiar instances.
The Death of the Virgin is the last of the six chapels inside the
church itself. The Apostles, who of course are present, have all of
them real hair, but, if I may say so, they want a wash and a brush-
up so very badly that I cannot feel any confidence in writing about
them. I should say that, take them all round, they are a good
average sample of apostle as apostles generally go. Two or three of
them are nervously anxious to find appropriate quotations in books
that lie open before them, which they are searching with eager
haste; but I do not see one figure about which I should like to say
positively that it is either good or bad. There is a good bust of a
man, matching the one in the Birth of the Virgin chapel, which is
said to be a portrait of Giovanni d'Enrico, but it is not known whom
it represents.
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