COTTID^E. 61 



sounds were produced, due perhaps to an escape of gas from the chamber. Ccecal 

 appendages ten, or eight according to Cuvier and Valenciennes, so they may 

 vary, they are rather long. Colours brownish-red. Pectoral fin reddish externally 

 with bluish margins, blue internally with numerous blackish blotches, taking the 

 form of transverse bands. In the young the back is reddish-brown, abdomen 

 silvery, the sides being glossed with golden. Dorsal fins reddish, the first being 

 black-tipped, and the second violet with a dark basal band, and also dark alono- its 

 upper half. Caudal purplish. Pectoral violet externally, having irregular narrow 

 and dark transverse bands : on the posterior half or two-thirds of its inner side 

 exists a large oval black or very dark-blue blotch , on which are scattered small 

 milk-white or light-blue spots, this mark generally disappears in the adult, but 

 traces are frequently perceptible. 



Names. Aldrovandus adopted the term hirundo for this fish, perhaps he 

 traced a resemblance between the spots on its pectoral fins to the white spots 

 on each of the tail feathers of the common swallow. It is known as 

 the Sapphirine gurnard, tub-fish, or tubbot : sea crow : red tubs : smooth sides. 

 Yfgyfarnog y mor, Welsh. In Belfast it is commonly called the gray gurnard, and 

 there the T. gumardus is called hnoud. H Hirondelle de mer, Le Perlon, and Rouget 

 grondin, French. De groote Toon, Dutch. 



By a slip of the pen Linnaeus described Trigla hirundo as having " linea 

 laterali aculeata," which caused Pennant, Fleming, and others to describe "the 

 side-line as rough," and doubtless also misled Montague into the belief that 

 his fish without a rough lateral-line was a new species, so he named it T. Icevis. 



Thompson's example of " the little gurnard" from Youghal, in Ireland, with 

 D. 10/15 and "lateral-line spinous," cannot have been T. paiciloptera, but perhaps 

 the young of T. lineata. Steindachner, in 1867, observed that T. paiciloptera, C. V., 

 is identical with T. corax, Bonap. and T. capensis, C. V., and the young of 

 T. hirundo, which was confirmed by Professor Liitken in 1876. 



Habits. This species usually remains near the bottom in rather deep water, 

 but occasionally rises to the surface. It lives on Crustacea, molluscs, and such 

 small fish as it can catch. The young generally lie at the bottom in shallow 

 water, with their pectoral fins widely expanded, the blue colours of which, and 

 the dark blotch covered with white spots, give them the appearance of gorgeous 

 butterflies, as of course the inner or coloured side becomes that portion which 

 is most exposed to view. It seems to be very fond of shrimps, and Lloyd 

 remarks that when in an aquarium any have fallen to the bottom, and got under 

 the sand, it has been observed to use the free rays of its pectoral fins to 

 disturb them by feeling, hooking, and poking above them (Hardw. Science Gossip, 

 1865, p. 236). Thompson found a sordid dragonet inside one; and Couch 

 observed a pecten as large as half a crown ; and small solens or razor-shells 

 have been obtained from their stomachs. 



Means of capture. Usually by the trawl along with flat fish, but they also 

 take a bait and are occasionally captured in salmon nets in the autumn. 



Breeding. This fish appears to breed during the first six months of the year. 

 Couch found them with mature ova in December and February. Risso observed 

 that they deposited eggs in the spring, and Couch found the roe enlarged both at 

 Christmas and also in May and July. Walker, when trawling in the Dee for 

 shrimps in March, 1859, frequently took the young (Zoologist, p. 6540). 



As food. This species is nearly equal to the best sorts of gurnards, and is often 

 preferred in consequence of attaining to a large size ; its flesh, however, is rather 

 dry, and requires sauce. It is salted in the north of Europe, and thus used in 

 Denmark for ships' provisions. 



Habitat. Norway, the western coast of Europe, round Great Britain and 

 Ireland, and through the Mediterranean and Adriatic. 



Is common round the British coast, but scarcely so abundant as T. cuculus. 

 Yarrell says it is the most abundant, while it decreases in number towards the 

 north. It has been recorded at Lossiemouth in January, 1841, and October, 1845, 

 by Gordon (Zoologist, p. 3458), while Edward remarks that it is pretty common 



