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First Meeting: 4th May, 1910.
Present: Mr. R. M. Laing (President), in the chair, and eighty-five others.
New Members.—Miss Cocks, Captain A. A. Dorrien-Smith, D.S.O., Messrs. M. C. Gudex, W. G. Aldridge, D. B. McLeod, E. J. Haynes, H. Vickerman, W. F. Robinson, H. D. M. Haszard, Langford P. Symes, Dr. H. G. Denham, Rev. J. T. Pinfold, and the Hon. H. F. Wigram.
“Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand.”—A copy of the recently issued work on the subantarctic islands was laid on the table, and several appreciative letters were received in connection with its appearance. The hon. editor, Dr. Charles Chilton, was presented on behalf of the contributors with a bound copy of the work containing their autographs, and a letter congratulating him on the able way in which he had carried out the duties of editor of the volumes.
Address.—“The Nesting Habits of Fishes,” by Mr. Edgar R. Waite, F.L.S., the retiring President.
The lecturer placed before the meeting some original observations on the nesting habits of fishes, and illustrated his address by lantern-slides of the various nests described and of their fabricators.
The evolution of the fish's nest was traced, from the mere disturbance of the gravel bed and the mounds of the lampreys, to the elaborate structures of the pihaya and sticklebacks, and it was mentioned that the filaments which bind together the materials of the nest of the latter fish were secreted from the kidneys of the male. The researches of Budgett and others into the nesting habits of
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African fishes were mentioned, and the peculiar habits of Aspredo and other catfishes, of the pipefishes and sea-horses, and the parasitical methods of the bitterling, were detailed. The remarkable bubble nests of the rainbow-fish and fighting-fish were described, and illustrated by photographs taken by the lecturer.
Some popular errors were indicated, including the widely advertised habit accredited to the Sargasso fish (Pterophryne), which was supposed to make the “nest” found in the gulf-weed. It has been known for some time that the eggs are those of a flying-fish, which by means of their filaments hold the fronds of weed into a nestlike mass, but the old story still appears in quite recent fish literature. It was explained that the Sargasso fish really lays its eggs at the surface, and that they form an immense raft, like those of other members of the same family.