THE GURNARDS, BULLHEADS, AND WEE VERS 149 



only on the occasional occurrence of the egg in January. The 

 pectoral fins show great development in the early days, but 

 the separation of the " fingers " is a later growth. It is thought 

 that the ancestors of the gurnard lacked these " fingers," which 

 have been adopted as a modified structure by gurnards now in 

 existence. The grey gurnard is said to come to maturity 

 during its third year, or when about 8 or 9 in. long. 



The Streaked Gurnard (T'. lineatd) has slanting, raised 

 ridges down the sides, and there are rows of spines along both 

 the base of the dorsal fins and lateral line. It is dark red 

 in colour, and has usually brownish blotches on the fins. It 

 takes the hook less frequently than other gurnards, being more 

 often trawled or caught in set nets. None of these gurnards 

 are easily handled with impunity, but the abundance of spines 

 on the present species makes it the most unmanageable 

 of all. 



The Sapphirine Gurnard (T. hirundo), or Tub, is our second 

 largest species, and grows to a couple of feet in length. It 

 is red in colour, and has the hinder (or upper) surface of the 

 pectoral fins a bright blue. These it is fond of displaying 

 when alarmed, possibly as a danger signal. Its eggs have 

 apparently not been specially studied. 



The Piper (T.lyra) is. the largest of our gurnards, examples 

 having been caught measuring over 2 ft. in length. It is 

 red in colour, and has saw-edged bony plates projecting from 

 the snout. The pectoral fins are large, but lack the brilliant 

 colouring of those in T. hirundo. It seems likely that the 

 bony projections on the head of this species may be useful 

 in routing in the gravel for food, but this has not been 

 actually observed in the aquarium. 



The Lan thorn Gurnard (T". obscura), also known as the 

 Long-finned Gurnard, in allusion to the long second spine of 

 the dorsal fin, has, in addition to that peculiarity, a bright 

 silver band along the sides. Otherwise it is uniform red in 

 colour. Its scales are small, and the lateral line is marked by 



