PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 27 



this statement, I shall as briefly as possible remark on some of the peculiarities and 

 habits of those fish that are easily obtainable in our harbours throughout the seasons, 

 for the object not at the present of treating on their economical uses, but of creating 

 an interest in a physiological point of view, by observing, in those large glass cis- 

 terns or tanks, which may be termed " piscinae," the habits, the modes of progres- 

 sion, and the seeking of food which influence marine animals. Most are aware of 

 the great pleasure generally afforded to the visitors during the last year at the 

 Zoological Gardens, London, in the examination of the numerous marine and fresh 

 water fishes, and of the Chelonia, or Tortoises, which were seen in the full beauty 

 and spirit of life in the large crystal cisterns and troughs. In the following, I shall 

 allude principally to the smaller kinds, chiefly marine, that would form objects of 

 interest in their investigation : and in many instances, may lead to views entirely 

 new, as the absence hitherto of such facilities have led to decisions, and put 

 forward in ichthyological works, too, at variance with physiological facts. Mr. 

 Andrews then went through the classifications of the several genera of our marine 

 fish, and said that, among the Percidae, or family of perches, the greater and lesser, 

 weevers, (Trachinus draco, and T. vipera), were singular in their habits. The latter 

 is most frequently met in sandy inlets ; and I have, in several cases, witnessed the 

 severe effects of its wound. It is well known in Kerry as the sting- fish ; and it is 

 surprising, that some works on ichthyology still represent the injury to be caused by 

 the dorsal spine ; but my friend, Dr. Allman, has clearly proved the action to be from 

 the strong opercular spine. It is a pretty fish, streaked with brown and yellow, 

 and with silvery abdomen ; having its eyes fixed upwards, like the gobies, it settles 

 in the sand watching the approach of its prey. A few specimens of T. draco have 

 been met in Ventry Harbour. Of the same family, the striped red mullet (Mullus 

 sarmuletus) is of most remarkable beauty in its living state, its scales being of a 

 brilliant red, passing into a silvery pink on the belly. In confinement, it timidly 

 moves about, waving its barbels to and fro, as organs of touch. It is frequently 

 taken in the herring-nets, at the entrance of Ventry harbour, and is probably by 

 no means uncommon there ; and, when taken from the nets, exhibits great bril- 

 liancy of colouring. Its scales are easily rubbed from the body, so that those seen 

 in the fish shops of London are rarely good specimens, the scales being all detached 

 by the working of the trawl-net they are taken in. The Basse, or sea perch 

 (Labrax lupus), is beautiful at seasons in Brandon Creek, and, like several of our 

 marine fish, thrives well, kept permanently in fresh water. Under the head of 

 the mailed cheeks, or Gurnard family, are the several species of bull-heads, such as 

 Cottus scorpius, and C. bubalis, which are most amusing when captured. Some 

 give a slight hissing sound, and make their formidable spines very prominent by the 

 inflation of the head. Nothing can equal the extreme beauty of the Cottus Green- 

 landiaeus, or Greenland bull-heads, fine specimens of which were taken in Dingle 

 harbour — the richest tints of carmine and deep morone, with spots and barrings of 

 most vivid brilliancy, characterise these beautiful fish in the state of life. The ova, 

 or roe, is different from that of the other species, being of a fine scarlet, and which 

 was remarkable in the species I dissected. The natives of Greenland are fond 

 of this fish, and even eat the roe in a raw state. Of the sticklebacks, the ten-spined 

 and fifteen-spined frequent the harbours, particularly the latter (Gasterostens spina- 

 chia) in great numbers in Dingle harbour. They are taken in the sean : and I 

 have admired their playfulness and extreme beauty when placed in a tub of water. 

 Except in anger or alarm, they do not exhibit their spines, but which lie closely 

 adpressed to the dorsal ridge, in a sulcated groove. They are interesting in their 

 movements in seeking and attacking their prey ; and the tangled masses of Fucus 

 serratus and confervae, among which they form their nests and deposit their 

 eggs, it unshyingly, almost immediately after capture, seizes the food offered. 

 Passing over many species and families, which are altogether deep-water fish, the 

 next presents the riband-shaped form (the Tamioidas), in which is the beautiful 

 cepola rubesceas, red-band fish, which assumes the richest carmine to a pale rose- 

 tint. It has frequently been taken on the West Coast, and sometimes cast ashore 

 among sea-weeds after a gale of wind. It is met at low spring-tides among the 

 stems of laminaria and the stronger fuci. It would form a beautiful object in one 

 of the crystal cisterns, and to observe its sinuously -gliding motions between the 



