The Descent of Man

than flight." He then adds, that by carefully
searching the banks sufficient females for obtaining
ova can be found. (72. 'Land and Water,'
1868, p. 41.) Mr. H. Lee informs me that out of
212 trout, taken for this purpose in Lord Portsmouth's
park, 150 were males and 62 females.
The males of the Cyprinidae likewise seem to
be in excess; but several members of this Family,
viz., the carp, tench, bream and minnow,
appear regularly to follow the practice, rare in
the animal kingdom, of polyandry; for the female
whilst spawning is always attended by
two males, one on each side, and in the case of
the bream by three or four males. This fact is so
well known, that it is always recommended to
stock a pond with two male tenches to one female,
or at least with three males to two females.
With the minnow, an excellent observer
states, that on the spawning-beds the males are
ten times as numerous as the females; when a
female comes amongst the males, "she is im-