THE BULLHEAD. 133 



with soft and scaleless skin, more or less studded 

 with prickles or granulations ; teeth in the 

 jaws, on the vomer and palatine bones. 



Centridermichthys asper (Coitus asper, Rich. 

 F. B. A. 'Fishes,' p. 295), the Prickly-skinned 

 Bullhead. Sp. Ch.: Gill-openings separated 

 beneath, by an isthmus ; three opercular spines ; 

 crown with very small warts, back of the body 

 with very minute spines ; colour light yellow- 

 ish brown, thickly dotted with spots nearly black. 

 The length of the adult fish is seldom over 

 three-and-a-half inches. 



These tiny bullheads are common in all the 

 streams east and west of the Cascades. They are 

 not fond of going very far from the sea, but leave 

 the larger rivers soon after entering them, seeking 

 the clear rivulets and shallow lakes. In the 

 streams flowing through the Sumass and Chiluk- 

 weyuk prairies, in those flowing into Puget's 

 Sound, and north of it on the mainland to Fort 

 Simpson, and in all the streams draining Vancou- 

 ver Island, the prickly- skinned bullhead can be 

 easily found in July and August. Similar in 

 habits, and frequenting the same localities as the 

 preceding, are several species described in the 

 Appendix. 



THE ROCK COD. Belonging to the same family 



