IIARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



1/0 



tail, looking like a crossbreed between the " Shield- 

 bearer " and a Pipe-fish, — this is the Eifteen-spined 

 Stickleback, Gasterosteus spinachia — the " Great 

 Sea-adder" as the west-country people rather 

 magnificently call him. We have half a score of 

 them here. A small specimen is a pleasing object in 



informs us that the name was derived from cmaipw, 

 to gasp or pant. Whether the Sparidce are particu- 

 larly "thick in the wind," we do not know; we 

 are inclined to think the term is derived from the 

 Latin spar us, a dart or lance, in allusion to their 

 sharp-spined dorsal. One of the family was COm- 



Fig. 93. The Fifteen- spined Stickleback [Gasterosteus spinachia). 



an aquarium : he is not completely clad in mail, 

 but is "partially armoured," like some of our men- 

 of-war. The lateral line is marked by a series of 

 carinated scales, and the two elongated plates under- 

 neath him have given him the title of yaarijp- 

 oot'boq (bony-belly). "It is very voracious, 

 swallowing indiscriminately the fry of other 

 fishes." 



The common Sticklebacks, the three- and 

 four-spined, are among the hardiest of all 

 our sea captives ; they will live under the 

 most trying and unnatural conditions ; — their 

 bright, flashing, silvery scales, their lively 

 motions, and constant activity make them 

 very desirable for the aquarium. These 

 " Epinoches," or, as the Germans call them, 

 Stechbiittel, are very abundant, and in the 

 cold waters of the Baltic they are often 

 caught in prodigious quantities. Schone- 

 velde tells us that in the Gulf of Ekreford, 

 in Holstein, "les pecheurs en retirent quelque- 

 fois dans leurs filets de quoi remplir plusieurs 

 tonnes, et ils en nourrissent leurs cochons." Better 

 even that "leurs cochons" should eat them than 

 that they should be altogether wasted ; but if 

 "leurs enfants," or somebody else's half-starved 

 " enfants," could share a few " tonnes " of them 

 with the pigs, it would be more satisfactory : they 

 .are tasty little fish when nicely cooked, as we know 

 by experience. The ten-spined species is one of 

 the most attractive, as well as one of the smallest 

 of our coast fishes, but we have not been fortunate 

 enough to take one in this neighbourhood. The 

 whole "Stickling" tribe are most destructive, — 

 " Aucun poisson fait-il plus de tort aux etangs que 

 les Epinoches ; leur voracite est excessive ; Backer 

 a vu une epinoche devorer en cinq heures de temps 

 74 poissons de l'espece de la "Vandoise." The 

 Stickleback is a nest-builder : an illustrated paper 

 thereanent will be found in Science-Gossip, Janu- 

 ary, 1866. 



The Black Sea-bream is the first marketable fish 

 that we come across : the cnrapog is mentioned by 

 an old Greek author. Liddell and Scott's lexicon 



mon in the Mediterranean, and much prized by 

 those right royal epicures the Romans : Ovid men- 

 tions it in the line, 



" Et super aurata sparulus cervice refulgens." 



Fig. 94. The Black Sea-bream (Cantharus griseus). After Yarrell. 



Our British name "Bream" seems to have origi- 

 nated in an Anglo-Norman word signifying cold or 

 bleak. The extreme sensitiveness of the Breams to 

 changes of temperature may furnish a clue to a 

 fuller explanation. "The colour of this fish is blue- 

 grey, marked with alternate dark and light longi- 

 tudinal bands ; from the upper and back part of 

 the head two dark lines descend to the upper edge 

 of the operculum, enclosing between them a space 

 covered with scales; irides reddish orange ; lips and 

 region of the mouth pale reddish brown ; dorsal 

 fin pale brown, and lodged in a groove throughout 

 its whole length." This groove is very remarkable ; 

 its margins are slightly rounded, and under the 

 posterior extremity of the dorsal it forms a rounded 

 roll. Mr. Couch has bequeathed to us a method of 

 preparing a bream for the table, and as many a 

 good fish is called dry, tasteless, and good for 

 nothing, only because Britannia has not a talent for 

 ruling her kitchen, we transcribe the receipt, in the 

 hope of mitigating the evil:— "When thoroughly 

 cleaned, the fish should be wiped dry, but none of 

 the scales should be taken off. In this state it 

 should be broiled, turning it often ; and if the skin 

 cracks, flour it a little to keep the outer case entire. 



