One primitive form of the family, the matriarchate, which we shall study later, is realised, even in an exaggerated form, by ants and bees. In human societies we shall only find very faint imitations of this system, which has been so strictly carried out by the primates of the invertebrates, and which seems to have inspired the ancients with their fables about the amazons. The vertebrated species, with the exception of mankind, have founded no society that can be even distantly compared to that of hymenoptera and of ants. With nearly all fishes and amphibia the parents are very poorly developed as regards consciousness, and take no care of their eggs after fecundation. Some species of fishes are, however, endowed with a certain familial instinct, and strange to say, here it is the male who tends his offspring. So true is it, that the imaginary being called Nature has no preference for any special methods, and that in her eyes all processes are good on the one condition that they succeed! Thus the Chinese _Macropus_ gathers the fecundated eggs into his jaws, deposits them in the midst of the froth and mucous exuding from his mouth, and watches over the young when they are hatched.[32] The male of synagnathous fishes and the sea-horses carry their eggs in an incubating pouch; the _Chromis paterfamilias_, of the lake of Tiberias, protects and nourishes in his mouth and bronchial cavity hundreds of small fishes.[33] Other fishes also have more or less care for their young. Salmon and trout deposit their eggs in a depression which they have hollowed out in the sand for the purpose. Fishes, belonging to various families, construct nests and watch over the young when hatched (_Cranilabrus massa_, _Cranilabrus melops_). Often again it is the male who undertakes all the work. Thus the male of the _Gasterosteus leiurus_ is incessantly occupied in fetching the young ones home, and driving away all enemies, including the mother.[34] The male stickleback, who is polygamous, builds a nest and watches with solicitude over the safety and rearing of the young.[35] Many reptiles are unnatural parents; some, however, already possess some degree of familial instinct. Thus several males of the batrachians assist the female to eject her eggs. The male accoucheur toad rolls the eggs round his feet, and carefully carries them thus. The Surinam toad, the _Pipa Americana_, after having aided the female in the operation of laying the eggs, places them on the back of his companion, in little cutaneous cavities formed for their reception.[36] The _Cobra capella_ bravely defends its eggs. The saurians often live in couples, and the females of crocodiles escort their new-born little ones. Female tortoises go so far as to shelter their young in a sort of nest.[37]