FOUR-HORNED COTTUS. 



ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



WITH HARD CHEEKS. 



THE FOUR-HORNED COTTUS. 



Cottus quadricornis, LINN^US. 



,? ,, BLOCK, pt. iii. pi. 108. 



,, Cuv. et. VALENO. Hist. Nat. des Poiss. t. iv. p. 168. 



>, Four-horned Father-Lasher, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 345. 



I AM indebted to the communication of my friend Mr. 

 J. E. Gray, of the British Museum, for the knowledge of 

 the occurrence of the Four-horned Cottus on our shore ; and 

 the figure at the head of the page was drawn from a specimen 

 in the National collection. 



This species, first made known by Artedi, is common in 

 the Baltic, on the west coast of Norway, and in all the 

 Northern Seas even as far as Kamtschatka. It has also been 

 taken on the north-east coast of England by our fishermen in 

 winter, when working nets with small meshes for Sprats ; and 

 in sorting for sale the many bushels of this common fish 

 brought to the London market, the Four-horned Cottus has 

 been occasionally found. 



As a species, it is distinguished by four rough tubercles on 

 the top of the head, from which character its name has been 

 chosen : but Pallas observed occasional variations in the num- 



