ACANTHOPTERYGJI. 281 



is common in almost all the rivers and streams of Europe and 

 Northern Asia which have a stony or sandy bed. It remains 

 concealed under a stone, or in a little hole, whence it darts 

 with wonderful rapidity on its prey, consisting of the fry of 

 small fish, worms, and aquatic insects : it is said that its 

 voracity does not spare the young of its own species, though 

 in its turn it becomes the prey of pike, perch, salmon, &c. 



This species is very prolific : the female, when in spawn, 

 appears greatly swollen, and the protuberances formed by the 

 two ovaries at this time are so. elevated and rounded as to be 

 comparable to the mammae; and as there is but one step from 

 a comparison to an absurd hypothesis, it has been said that 

 the female bullhead sat on her eggs, and would be killed 

 rather than be induced to leave them. The bullhead, like the 

 salmon, turns red on being boiled ; and it is good and whole- 

 some eating. 



The salt-water congener of the last species, the Father- 

 lasher, C. scorpius, is an inhabitant of the Atlantic, and is an 

 extremely voracious, bold, and active fish. As found on our 

 coast it seldom exceeds nine or ten inches in length. A story 

 of Pontoppidan's, a misconception of Bloch's, and a mistrans- 

 lation of Lacepede's have caused it to be represented as 

 reaching six, and even ten feet, in the Northern Seas. It is 

 not generally eaten, but the hardy Greenlanders feed on it. 

 In Norway an oil is extracted from its liver. 



In the genus scorpaena, which, from its unsightly appear- 

 ance and fancied dangerous qualities, has received the names 

 of scorpion, toad, sea-devil, &c, the S. scropha, or larger 

 red scorpion, is found, in sufficient abundance, in the Atlantic 

 Ocean, the North Sea, and the Mediterranean, and attains 

 a length of eighteen inches, or even two feet. Its flesh is 

 poor and dry, though it is sometimes eaten by the poor in 

 the south of Europe. The Norwegians will not eat it, but 

 thev extract oil from its liver. 



