38 BULLETIISr OF THE NATURAL HISTOKY SOCEETY. 



including this and two other species in his " i^'ishes of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence and Bay of Fundy," did not regard 

 them as properly determined. In "Field and Forest Rambles," 

 A. Leith Adams follows Gill without determining the doubt- 

 ful forms, while J. M. Jones in his " List of Nova Scotia 

 Fishes," see "Natural Science Institute of Nova Scotia, 

 1878-9," includes only G. Maculeatus. The writer has 

 succeeded in establishing the existence here of three species, 

 and has reasons for believing that a fourth also exists. A 

 very handsome one, about three inches in length and like a 

 diminutive mackerel in shape and coloration, is the " nine 

 spined stickle-back," G. pungitius, L. Though sometimes 

 found in brackish water, it has a decided preference for 

 sluggish streams, ditches and ponds, resorting to springs and 

 the mouths of brooks on the approach of winter, during 

 which it seems as active and lively as in summer. In the 

 latter season the writer has not identified many of these in 

 brackish waters; but they so increase there in number on the 

 approach of winter as to favor the idea of a seasonable 

 migration. Notwithstanding its formidable array of spines, 

 the nine dorsal ones diverging at irregular angles, a deviation 

 of a highly protective character, it then falls a victim to the 

 greedy frost fish, Gadus tomcod, Walbaum, which alone of all 

 the winter fish retains the well-known family appetite un- 

 impaired. 



A second, smaller, and less beautiful form, limited to an 

 entirely fresh-water range, is G. inconstans, Kirtland. As 

 the specific name implies, the dorsal spines are variable in 

 size and number, and arranged nearly in a direct line. They 

 are never less than four, nor greater than six. This species 

 has its greatest distribution in the southern parts of the pro. 

 vince, occurring but rarely in the north. 



The third form identified is G. acideatus, L. — the G 

 biaculeatus of Shaw and DeKay, included in Perley's list. 

 This has been regarded as an exclusively salt-water species, 

 rindsuch it generally is, but the writer collected fine specimens 

 •<>n the Restigouche, over one hundred miles from its mouth, 



