GENUS GASTEROSTEUS. STICKLEBACKS. 163 



that a man employed by a farmer to take them, 

 has got, for a considerable time, four shillings a day, 

 by selling them at a halfpenny a bushel." 



(Sp. 29.) G. hrachycentrus. The Short-spined 

 Stickleback. M. M. CuAder and Valenciennes dis- 

 covered this species in France, and remark that it 

 is impossible to view it in any other light than as a 

 distinct species ; and Mr. W. Thompson, Vice-Pre- 

 sident of the Belfast Natural History Society, than 

 whom there can be fewer more accurate or acute 

 observers, has obtained it frequently in the North 

 of Ireland. The characters of this fish very much 

 correspond with those of the leiurus, only that it is 

 considerably larger in size, reaching to about three 

 inches ; and the spines, both dorsal and ventral, are 

 shorter than those of its congeners. The lateral 

 plates are the same. 



(Sp. 30.) G. spinulosus. The Four-spined Stickle- 

 back. (Is this different from the G. tetracanthus 

 of Cuv. and Val. ?) Dr. Stark first detected this as 

 a British species in a ditch near Edinburgh, and 

 read an account of it to the Wernerian Nat. Hist. 

 Society in the year 1831 ; and it has since been 

 noticed in various localities by Dr. Parnell, in the 

 south of Scotland : it has likewise been detected at 

 Teignmouth. It is very diminutive in size, and has 

 the spines at equal distances from each other on the 

 dorsal line. Dr. Stark found it very voracious, 

 and even more pugnacious than those with three 

 spines. 



(Sp. 31.) G. punc/Uius. The Ten-spined Stickle- 



