THE 



CANADIAN 



NATURALIST AID GEOLOGIST. 



Vol. IT. OCTOBER, 1859. No. 5. 



ART, XXIV. — On a New Species of Stickleback (Gasterosteus 

 gymnetes). By J. W. Dawson, LL.D., &c. 



(Read before the Natural History Society.) 



I propose in this paper to redeem from unmerited neglect an 

 inhabitant of our brooks, the six-spined stickleback, which, though 

 very well known to the boys of Montreal, and much persecuted 

 by them, has, in so far as I am aware, hitherto escaped the notice 

 of naturalists. It belongs to a group of little fishes, represented 

 by many species in the fresh-waters and on the coasts both of the 

 old and new world, and remarkable for their armature of sharp 

 spines, their active and pugnacious habits, aud the provision which 

 they make for the care of their spawn. 



Fig. 1.— Gasterosteus gymnetes (male). 



The present species makes its appearance in the brooks imme- 

 diately after the melting of the snows in spring. It is then plump 

 and active, and the females are laden with spawn. The spawn is 

 deposited in the end of March or beginning of April, in a globular 

 Canadian Nat. 1 Vol. IY. No. 5 



