SEA SNAIL. 191 



finds a place in his classification by Artcdi, with a generic 

 character at this time not to be mistaken. It is plain, however, 

 even from his own authority, that although the last-named 

 author felt no doubt of the existence of this fish, he had never 

 himself examined it, notwithstanding that from the authority of 

 Nilsson, we learn the fact of its being met with sometimes 

 on the coasts of Sweden. It is indeed, more than most others 

 of this family, a fish of the north, for its range extends even 

 to the icy regions of Spitzbergen; and it is also found at 

 Kamtschatka, although whether in the ocean between these 

 districts appears uncertain. On the north of Scotland and 

 England it is not rare, and it has been met with even at the 

 mouth of the Thames ; westward of which it is among the rarest 

 of fishes. Yet I have been informed of its occurrence near 

 Weymouth; and on the authority of W. P. Cocks, Esq., a single 

 example is recorded as having been found under a stone in 

 the harbour of Falmouth. Its proper haunts appear to be not 

 far from low water mark, where it seeks shelter under stones; 

 but it also advances up into the fresh water of rivers, although 

 perhaps never beyond the reach of the tide. Its food is the 

 small crustaceous animals it meets with at the bottom, and its 

 season of procreation is early in the spring. So oily or muci- 

 laginous is the fleshy substance of this fish, that soon after 

 death it melts away on slight exposure to the sun; on which 

 account it is that it has received the name of Sea Snail. 



The Sea Snail attains the length of four or five inches. In 

 its shape the parts in front of the dorsal fin are round and 

 heavy, but towards the tail more compressed and tapering. 

 Eyes high on the head and prominent, but not close together. 

 The snout blunt and rounded; jaws equal, the teeth only rough; 

 upper lip with two short threads or barbs. A process of the 

 integument on the gill-cover stretched over the small opening 

 of the gills. Skin smooth -and soft, without tubercles. Belly 

 protuberant; a single dorsal fin, which begins only a little behind 

 the head; anal fin also single, and both these fins run back to 

 be joined to the tail, but not amalgamated with it. Tail round; 

 sucking organ round, on the throat. Pectoral fin wide, upper 

 rays longest, but again lengthened near where united to the 

 ventrals; and which together encircle the throat. The colour 

 is liable to variation; the back and fins of different degrees of 



