XO. 1 80 1 



MILLERS-THUMB AND ITS HABITS — GILL 



103 



u 



Bullhead, Bull-knob, Bull-jub, Cob, Cod-pole, Cull, Harbeau, Nog- 

 gle-head, Tom-cull, and Tommy-logge are applied in various re- 

 stricted districts. None of these, unless it be Bullhead, was brought 

 over to America by the early settlers, although it is said by Goode 

 (1884, 259) that species are "known in some localities by the Eng- 

 lish name of Miller's thumb,'" etc. The name in most general use in 

 the United States appears to be Blob ; the primitive use of blob was 



for a bubble or drop, then for a splotch or ^ 



blotch, and its transfer to a fish resembling 



a blotch when seen at the bottom of a stream 



was not unnatural. Other names applied 



in various parts of the United States are 



Bull-head, Muffle-jaws, and Spring-fish. 



Still more restricted are Stone-fish and 



Flying-fish, current, according to S. H. 



Gage, to some extent in central New York, 



the former being given because "it is found 



almost exclusively under stones," and the 



latter "from its rapid movements," which, 



however, are only manifest as short darts. 



Another name, Star-gazer, is a book name, 



originating from Dekay's ignorance of 



the relations of the fish so named, but 



adopted by a naturalist (S. H. Gage) of 



later times (1878). In Maine, according to 



Kendall (1904), in the Aroostook region, it 



is known as Rock Cusk, "from a fancied 



resemblance to the Cusk^ (Lota maculosa) ; 



Brook Cusk is also given by Kendall (1908) 



for the same fish ; Goblin is another name 



recorded by S. A. Forbes (1883) as a term 



for the C. lucridionalis in Illinois; "Slullhead, 



according to H. Smith U907), is used in Icio.zi.—Cottus gracilis. 



X'iro'inia.- After Girard. 



' The same idea seems to be prevalent in Sweden, where one of the names 

 (Stenlake or Stone-burbot) recorded by Smith (p. 172) conveys the same idea 

 as Rock- disk. 



^Numerous popular names given to species of Cottits in various countries of 

 Europe are recorded for the Austrian Empire by Heckel and Kner; for 

 Germany by Siebold and others ; for Scandinavia by Smitt, and for France by 

 Blanchard, Rolland, and Moreau. 



