ICHTHYOLOGY 



173 



Buccse 

 Ijoricatne. 



Acaiilhop. over added to them a certain portion of the genus Gaste- 

 terygii. rosteiis, or stickle-back tribe. 



Genus Trigla, Linn. Here the family character is 

 strongly marked. An enormous sub-orbital covers the 

 entire cheek, and even articulates by means of an im- 

 movable suture with the pre-opercle, vvliich in this way 

 possesses no separate movement ; the sides of the head 

 are nearly vertical, producing a form approaching that of 

 a cube or of a parallelopiped, and the bones are hard and 

 granulated ; the back bears two distinct dorsals, and be- 

 neatli the pectorals are three free rays ; in the interior 

 we find about a dozen caeca, and a broad bilobed swim- 

 ming bladder. 



This extensive genus has been subdivided by modern 

 writers. 



Trigla proper contains the gur7iards commonly so 

 called. They have small close-set teeth on the maxillae, 

 and before the vomer ; and their pectoral fins, though 

 large, are incompetent to sustain them through the air. 

 T. cuculus, Linn. ( T. jnni of Bloch), our red gurnard, 

 is a voracious species, common in the European seas. 

 T. b/ra^, named the piper, is another British species re- 

 markable for the hissing sound which it produces when 

 caught, by expelling air through its gills. It is a beauti- 

 ful fish, of a bright red above, and silvery white below. 

 T, cuculus of Bloch (7'. Blochii, Yarrell) is another red 

 gurnard, distinguishable by a black spot on the first dorsal 

 fin. T. lucerna is a Mediterranean species, so named 

 because it shines in the dark. T. hirundo is a British 

 species, known as the sapphirine gurnard. Its pectoral 

 fins are rich green and blue. The only other species we 

 shall mention is the grey gurnard ( T. gurnardus), Plate 

 CCXCVIII. fig. 1. Its muzzle is bifurcated, with three 

 spines on each side. It is easily taken with a hook, and 

 is common in the British seas. 



Prionites of Lacepede contains species analogous to 

 those last named, but with pectorals so long as occasion- 

 ally to sustain them in the air. Their precise character, 

 however, consists in their having a band of small close- 

 set teeth on each palatine. 



Peristedion of Lac. is separated from Trigla proper, 

 with still more correctness. The whole body is as it 

 were cuirassed over by great hexagonal scales, forming 

 longitudinal ridges ; the muzzle is divided into two points, 

 and bears branched barbies beneath ; the mouth has no 

 teeth. The only well-known species is the T. cataphracta, 

 Linn, a Mediterranean fish, called Malarmat both at Mar- 

 seilles and Genoa, probably by an antiphrase, as it is one 

 of the most redoubtably armed of all the fishes of the 

 European seas. 



Dactylopterus of Lac, yet further removed from 

 Trigla, contains certain (though not the whole) of those 

 species known under the famous name of flying fishes.' 

 Their sub-pectoral rays are much more numerous and ex- 

 tended, and instead of being free, as in the preceding 

 groups, they are united by a membrane so as to form a 

 supernumerary fin, longer than the fish itself, and capable 

 of supporting it in the air. 



The common Dactylopterus, or flying fish of the Me- 

 diterranean {Trigla volitans, Linn.), is a species too re- 

 markable for its functions, so opposite to those of its class 

 in general, not to have attracted from an early period the 

 attention of mankind. It is extremely common in the 

 Mediterranean, and has been mentioned by all the au- 

 thors who have treated of the fishes of that inland sea. 

 The ardour with which it is pursued by the dolphins 

 and bonitos, the sudden effort which it makes to escape 

 these predaceous creatures by vaulting into the air, the 



new and probably unthought of dangers which there await Acanthop- 

 it from gulls and other aquatic birds, render it an object t^rypi. 

 of the highest interest to the unaccustomed landsman, , •'^^'^ 

 somewhat wearied with the monotony of a sailor's life. ,.^,.^,,^ 

 " It is by the extension of the pectoral rays and mem- 

 brane that the fish is enabled to raise itself from its pro- 

 per element to the regions of the air, though this is by 

 no means a continual flight, for the utmost it can do is to 

 describe an arch over the surface of the water extending 

 to a distance of about 120 feet, and sufficiently elevated 

 fiar the fish sometimes to fall on the deck of a large ves- 

 sel. This power of flight or momentary suspension would 

 be much greater if the pectoral membrane could preserve 

 its humidity longer: this is soon evaporated in the heat 

 of the tropics; and the membrane, as it becomes dry, loses 

 its buoyant power, and the fish falls. They are some- 

 times so numerous as to afford much pleasure to the spec- 

 tator by their repeated flights ; and at particular times, 

 especially on the approach of rough weather, in the night, 

 numbers of them may be seen, by the phosphoric light 

 they emit, marking their arched passages in apparent 

 streams of fire.^" 



It is singular that the species to which we now allude 

 {D. volitans), though so frequent in the Mediterranean, 

 should be almost entirely unknown along the oceanic 

 coasts of Europe. Still more singular is it, in relation to 

 that exclusion, that it should at the same time be found 

 across the Atlantic, and spreading not only along all the 

 central and southern shores of the New World, but ex- 

 tending even as far north as the chilly waters of New- 

 foundland. The great Gulf Stream may however prove 

 influential in the northern distribution of many western 

 species. 



We shall conclude this notice by observing, that the 

 fish in question measures about a foot in length ; it is 

 brown above, reddish below, with blackish fins, variously 

 spotted with blue. Its most formidable weapon of of- 

 fence consists of the long and pointed spine of the oper- 

 cle, which it can raise and render almost perpendicular 

 to its body. With this organ it is easy to conceive that 

 it may produce serious, or even dangerous wounds; and 

 we therefore wonder the less that a poet like Oppian 

 should have declared them mortal. 



There seems to be only one other clearly ascertained 

 species of the genus Dactylopterus. It is the D. orieiUalis 

 of Cuvier, and occurs in the Indian seas. 



Genus Cottus, Linn. Head broad and depressed, 

 mailed, and variously armed by spines or tubercles ; two 

 dorsal fins ; teeth in front of the vomer, but none on the 

 palatines ; six rays to the branchia;, and only three or 

 four to the ventral fins. The inferior rays of the pecto- 

 rals, as in the weevers (genus Tracki/ius), are not branch- 

 ed ; the caecal appendages are less numerous than in Tri- 

 gla, and the swimming bladder is wanting. 



The fresh-water species of this genus have the head al- 

 most smooth, and only a single spine to the pre-opercle. 

 Their first dorsal is very low. The most common is the 

 river bull-head (Cottus gobio, Linn.), sometimes called the 

 miller's thumb. It is a small dark-coloured fish, four or 

 five inches in length, and frequent in most of the streams 

 of Europe and the north of Asia. It usually lies con- 

 cealed beneath stones, from whence it darts with great 

 rapidity upon its prey. It is said to be extremely prolific ; 

 and the female, when with spawn, becomes so greatly en- 

 larged, that her ovaries protrude like mammae. The bull- 

 head, like the salmon, has a reddish hue when boiled. It 

 affords a good and wholesome food, much sought after by 

 the mountain tribes of several countries ; yet Pallas as- 



' Others, for example, belong to Exocalus, one of the genera of Malacopterygli ahdominakt, to be afterwards described. 

 ' Griffith's Animal Kingdom, vol. X. p. 280. 



