COTTolD.s. 



18( 



it is pi-ohably tlic bri<iiit hook that really entices it. 

 In the islands on the west coast the Sea Scoi'pjon is 

 generally taken on the iiooks cast for other, more 

 useful fishes, and often in shore-nets or seines; l>nt it 



is usually thrown away or cut uj) into bait for other 

 lishes. 1'"ai!i;i(1us describes, hc^v this fish is taken in 

 Greenland with the pimpddon. 



(EkstkOm, S.mitt.) 



THE FATHER-LASHER (s\v. o.xsimpan). 

 COTTUS BUBALIS. 



IMalf VII, figs. 2 (c/') and .3 (?). 



Top of the head fiirnished iritJt spiiiefi and ridf/es and rough wifh protiiberai/ces and bars. Four preopermlar sjriiies, 

 the length of the uppermost in fidl-groirn specimens being greater than the longitudinal diameter of the ege. Lateral 

 line straight {without an;/ sharp lend) and armed with spines. The length (f the maxillarg bones, n-hich is less 

 than the length of the ventral fns and than SO % of the base of the anal fn, varies hetireen 38 and /jfj %, and 

 the length of the lon-er Jair betinrn .'iD and 72 %;, of the length af tin- base af the second dorsal fn. Least depth 

 of the tail more than 5^., % of the lengtli of the hodg and varying betn-een 29 and 41 % of the length of the 

 base of the anal fn. Margins of the branchiostegal membranes united to the isthmus, n-hich separates them. Dermal 

 fringes often present on the upper margin of the ege and ahrags on the posterior part of the maxillarg bones. 

 Number of rags in the second dors(d fn at most 13, in the anal fn at most 10. in the rentral fns 4. 



R. l)}-. 0"; D. 

 V. a- + l 1. 8 1. 9 + 



— SjlO— 13; A. 8—10; P. 14— 15^ V. Val 

 L. hi. 32 — 35. 



6'yn. Cottus Bubalis, Euphr., Vet.-Akad. Handl. 178G, p. 65, fab. Ill, 

 fig. 2 et 3; Retz., Fii.Huec. Liu., p. 328; Cuv., Val., Hist. 

 Nat. Poiss., vol. IV, p. 165, tab. 78; Nir.ss., Prodi: Icht/i. 

 Scatid., p. 97; Ekste., Vct.-Akad. Hand!., 1834, p. 72; Fi;., 

 Ekstb., Wright, 6'lcand. Fislc, ed. 1, p. 27, tab. 6, fig. 1 

 ct 2; Kr., Damn. Fiske, vol. I, pp. 118 et 582; Sundev., 

 Stoclch. L. Hush. Sallsk. Handl. 1855, p. 80; Nilss., jSIcaiid. 

 Fn., Fisk., p. 74; Gthr, Brit. Miis. Cat.. Fish., vol. II, p. 

 164; LiXDSTR., Gotl. L. Hush. Sallsk. Arsber. 1866, p. 14 

 (sep.); Steindachn., Stzber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, LVI, i (1867), 

 p. 604; Coll., Vid. Selsk. Forh. Christ., 1874, Till^gsh., 

 p. 29; ibid., 1879, No. 1, p. 13; Ltkn, Vid. Meddel. Naturh. 

 For. Kbhvn, 1876, p. 377; Malm, Gbgs, Boh. Fn., p. 389; 

 WiNTH., Zool. Dan., Fiske, p. 9, tab. II, fig. 3; Naturh. 

 Tidskr. Kbhvn, ser. Ill, vol. XII, p. 10; Dat, Fish. G:t 

 Brit. IreL, vol. I, p. 51, fab. XX, fig. 2; LiLLr., :Sv., Xorg. 

 Fisk., vol. I, p. 153; Mor., Hist. Nat. Poiss. Fr., vol. II, 

 p. 302; Mob., Hcke, Fisch. Osts., p. 46; Jord., Gii.n., Bull. 

 U. S. Nat. Mils., No. IG, p. 701. 



Ohs. Though it was our countryman, Euphraskn, who first gave 

 tlie ichthyologists full information of this species, which he discovered 

 in 1783 at Kyrksund in Bohuslan, we still find by a short, but fairly 

 clear, description in Schonevelde {Ichthyol., Slesv. Hots., p. 67: ^^alia 

 iScorpii species in Sleia") that at that early date (1624) he both 

 knew and recognised it as distinct from the common Sea Scorpion. At 

 about the same time as Eupurasen, Strum also discovered tliis species 



in Norway and adopted it as an independent species, two years before 

 the publication of Eopiirasen's description, under the name: Cottti?, 

 capite lateril/tisque spinosis (see Nj'e Samling af det Kongl. Norske 

 Vidcnsk. Selskabs Skrifter, Bd. I, p. 151). Valenciknnes, on the 

 other hand, was mistaken — and in this mistake he has been followed 

 bj' many — when he identified the "Fisk-sympen" of ToxNLVO (Trondj. 

 Selsk. Skrifler, 2:den Deel, Kbhvn 1763, p. 345, tab. XIII and XIV) 

 with tliis species. Tonning'.s fish was evidently a Sea Scorpion. 



The Father-Lasher belongs to a group of the genus 

 which reaches its highest development in the Pacific 

 Ocean. Its characters are far more sharplv marked 

 there, and there is the home of the giants of the group 

 — the Father-Lasher is only a stunted form of the tyjje 

 Avhich has otherwise been named Enophrgs', Aspicottus'' , 

 Clgpeocottus'' or Ceratocottus-' . The character of this 

 group which is perhaps most important in a systema- 

 tical respect, lies in the development of the dermal 

 fringes, which remind us of the relationship between 

 the Cottoids and the Scorpa^noids. Side by side ^vith 

 this, however, we find a character that reminds us of 

 the (nirnard tj'j^e, in the nakedness and roughness of 

 the upper part of the head. The head is otherwise dis- 

 tinguished by the high, but deeply concave, interorbital 

 region; the broad ridges on the top, ^vhi(•h are po.ster- 



" Sometimes 5, according to Kroyer. 



* Or 16, according to Day, Lilljeborg and Moreav. 



' Swaixso.n', Nat. Hist., Classif. Fish. vol. II. p. 271. 



^ Aspicottus bison, Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc, Philad. 1854, p. 130. 



' Clypeocottus robustus, Ayres, Proc. Calif. Acad. Nat. Sc., 1854, p. 12. 



•'' Ueratocottus diceraiis. Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc, Philad. 1859, p. 165. 



