THE THREE-LOBED BLEPSIAS. 233 



sacred volume are really the Sea Locusts, but this conjecture seems to be entirely gratuitous, 

 and is unsupported by facts. 



ANOTHER curious fish is the SEEPAARD of the Dutch (Agriopus tormts), a native of the 

 seas around the Cape of Good Hope. 



It is a rather powerfully armed species, on account of the strong, sharp, and recurved 

 spines of the dorsal fin, but its head is not supplied with the thorny projections that render 

 the preceding fish so perilous to handle. The dorsal fin of the Seepaard is single, and the 

 spinous portion is greatly developed, rising in a bold curve over the shoulders and back like 

 the crest of an ancient helmet, and being continued almost as far as the tail. Very little is 

 known of this fish, though it is far from uncommon, and is eaten by the Dutch colonists of 

 the Cape. 



Its color is brown, mostly marbled with black, and the skin is smooth. 



THE strange and quaintly decorated fish, called YELLOW SCORP^ENA, is an inhabitant of 

 the American coast, being found on the Atlantic shores of Northern America. 



This odd-looking species frequents the same localities as the cod, and is often taken at 

 the same time as that fish. The skin of the Yellow Scorpsena is devoid of scales, and the 

 ventral and pectoral fins are enveloped in thick skin. The head is depressed, naked, and is 

 covered with a series of loose, skinny appendages, that flap and wave about in the water 

 without any apparent purpose. It is also armed with a number of rather sharp spines. 

 There are two dorsal fins, the first being so deeply scooped that at one time the fish was 

 described as possessing three dorsals. The first four spines of the dorsal fin are very long, and 

 the membrane is deeply scooped between the fourth and fifth spines. The general color of this 

 fish is yellow, tinged more or less with red, and in some specimens marbled with brown. The 

 length of a very fine specimen is about two feet, but the ordinary average is from fourteen to 

 eighteen inches. 



THE FILAMENTOUS GURNARD affords another example of this apparent capriciousness of 

 grotesque formation. It is found on the coasts of the Isle of France. It appears to feed 

 mostly upon crustaceans and mollusks, and the bony remnants of certain cuttle-fish have been 

 found in its stomach. Its color is grayish-brown, marbled with a deeper hue of the same tint, 

 and covered with minute spots of white. 



There is another species of this genus which is colored in a rather bold and pleasing man- 

 ner. This is the SPOTTED PELOR (Pelor maculatum), which derives it name from the manner 

 in which the black hue of the skin is variegated with white. In this species there are three 

 large white patches on the back, and three more on the dorsal fin. Some circular white spots 

 are scattered on the head, and a white ring encircles the eyes. The pectoral fins are decorated 

 with a bold white band, and the tail fin is marked with two white bands alternating with the 

 same number of black stripes. 



THE odd-looking fish which is known by the name of the THREE-LOBED BLEPSIAS, is one 

 of those species to which the ancient naturalists had affixed certain names without any appar- 

 ent motive for so doing. There is no particular meaning in the word, and the sum of informa- 

 tion obtainable from lexicons is, that it signifies a certain fish. 



The members of this genus are found on the coasts of Kamschatka, and some fine speci- 

 mens were obtained from the New Orcas Islands, in the Gulf of Georgia. This species is not 

 very common, but may easily be known from its congener, the TWO-LOBED BLEPSIAS (Blepsias 

 bilobus), by the peculiar manner in which the spiny portion of the dorsal fin is notched so 

 as to form the whole fin into three distinct lobes. In the second species this structure is not 

 seen. In both, the soft portion of the dorsal fin is greatly developed, and the body and fins 

 are boldly marked with dark streaks upon a lighter surface. The body is entirely covered 

 with prickles. 



Vofc. m.-3Q. 



