BUTTERFISH. 237 



whom we know he was indebted for other information as 

 regards Cornish natural history. 



This fish is not met with in deep water, and near the shore 

 it frequents oozy ground, especially in tidal harbours; where 

 it keeps near low-water mark, and is often left concealed under 

 a stone, at a few feet or yards from the border of the lowest 

 tide. It is a native of northern climates, and is known even 

 in Greenland, where it is said to reach a larger size than is 

 usual in the British Islands. Xilsson says that it is found on 

 the coasts of Finmark and Norway, down to the mouth of 

 the Baltic, but not in the more eastward part of that sea, 

 where it is probable the water is too fresh to sustain its life. 

 It is also a native of all the shores of the British Islands, 

 wherever it can find suitable shelter and subsistence; but 

 everywhere it may be considered a solitary fish, as it is not 

 common to find two or three together. It is said to be found 

 also in North America, but it may be doubted whether the 

 American fish is not a distinct species, which, however, Mr. 

 Yarrell, on comparison of specimens, believed it not to be. Its 

 food appears to be for the most part the smaller crustaceous 

 animals. 



Xilsson says its spawn is shed in Xovember, but it is 

 probable that the season holds through the summer. In the 

 first week in June, Mr. Peach, who then resided at Fowey, 

 discovered the grains of what there seems to be no room for 

 doubting to be the spawn of the Butterfish, attached to the 

 under surface of a stone in the harbour of that port, with the 

 supposed parent near it; and with a microscope a considerable 

 progress was rendered evident in the development of the 

 embryo fish, as promising a speedy birth with resemblance to 

 the supposed parent. 



An usual size of the Butterfish is five or six inches in 

 length, and the general shape is long, compressed, and of 

 nearly equal depth from the head to the tail. The head slopes 

 gently from the front of the dorsal fin to the mouth, where 

 the jaws are equal; gape narrow, and opening obliquely 

 downward; teeth regular, and some in the palate; eyes high 

 on the head. The body smooth and slippery; vent at about 

 half its length, excluding the tail; a slight mark of a lateral 

 line. The dorsal fin begins in a line above the border of the 



