ICHTHYOLOGY. 



Acauthop. completely mailed with enormous angular scales, rough 

 'erygii. ^„^ carinated ; dorsal fin represented by four or five thick 

 Buccoe spings . gjjch ventral consisting of a single enormous spine, 

 orica ce. j^ ^j^^ angle of which some small soft rays lie concealed ; 

 head large and mailed ; front gibbous ; mouth large ; small 

 and close-set teeth in the jaws and palatines, but none 

 upon the vomer ; eight branchial rays. 



Of this remarkable genus there is only a single species 

 known, a small fish of a silvery whiteness, measuring about 

 six inches in length. It inhabits the seas of Japan. See 

 Plate CCXCIX. fig. 8. 



Genus Gasterosteus, Cuv. Cheeks mailed, but the 

 head neither spined nor tuberculated, as in the preceding 

 genera. The special characters consist in the freedom of 

 the dorsal spines, which do not form a fin, and in the pel- 

 vis being united to larger humerals than usual, thus fur- 

 nishing the abdomen with a kind of bony cuirass. The 

 ventrals, placed posterior to the pectorals, are reduced al- 

 most to a single spine. There are only three branchial 

 rays. 



The species are small fishes familiarly known under 

 the name of Stlckle-backs (Scotice, Betilicles), extremely 

 common in all the fresh waters of Europe. Gesner indeed 

 asserted that they did not occur in Switzerland ; but the 

 contrary has been long since ascertained. Our most 

 common species is G. aculeatus, Linn. (Plate CCXCIX. 

 fig. 9), under which name, however, it is supposed that 

 more than a single kind has been confounded. It is an 

 active and greedy little fish, extremely destructive of the 

 fry of other species, and consequently injurious in ponds 

 where these are sought to be preserved. Mr Henry Ba- 

 ker informs us that it will spring not less than a foot per- 

 pendicularly out of the water, and to a much greater dis- 

 tance in an oblique direction, when it desires to overcome 

 any opposing obstacle. " It is scarcely to be conceived," 

 he adds, " what damage these little fish do, and how 

 greatly detrimental they are to the increase of all the fish 

 in general among which they live ; for it is with the ut- 

 most industry, sagacity, and greediness that they seek out 

 and destroy all the young fry that come in their way, 

 which are pursued with the utmost eagerness, and swal- 

 lowed down without distinction, provided they are not too 

 large ; and in proof of this, I must assert that a bannstic- 

 kle which I kept for some time, did, on the 4th of May, de- 

 vour, in five hours' time, seventy-four young dace, which 

 were about a quarter of an inch long, and of the thickness 

 of a horse-hair. Two days after it swallowed sixty-two; 

 and would, I am persuaded, have eat as many every day, 

 could I have procured them for it." The stickle-back 

 sometimes swarms in prodigious numbers. Pennant states, 

 that at Spalding, in Lincolnshire, there are once in seven 

 years amazing shoals, which appear in the Welland, com- 

 ing up the river in the form of a vast column. This con- 

 course is supposed to arise from the multitudes which 

 have been washed out of the fens by the floods of several 

 years, and which collect in deep holes, till, overcharged 

 with numbers, they are obliged to attempt a change of 

 place. The quantity may perhaps be conceived from the 

 fact, that a man employed in collecting them gained for 

 a considerable time four shillings a day by selling them 

 at the rate of a halfpenny a bushel. G. pmigitivus, com- 

 monly called the smaller or ten-spined stickle-back, is 

 the least of all our fresh-water fishes. In common, how- 

 ever, with a more truly marine species (G.spiTiochia, Linn., 

 which forms a sub-genus), it is also found in the sea.' 



We shall here conclude our exposition of the family 

 with mailed cheeks. 



175 



FAMILY III.— SCl.ENID^. Acanthop- 



terypii. 



This family is closely related to the Percidae, and exhi- r""^^^ 

 bits almost all the same combinations of external charac- ^-^'^"^ 

 ters, especially the dentations of the pre-opercle, and the 

 opercular spines ; but the Scia;nidas have never any teeth 

 either on the vomer or palatines ; the bones of the face 

 and cranium are generally cavernous, and the muzzle more 

 or less gibbous ; a form rarely observed among the Per- 

 cida;. The vertical fins are frequently somewhat scaly. 



Even in its interior organization our present family 

 bears a considerable resemblance to the perches ; but 

 there are greater variations, and especially a more compli- 

 cated structure of the swimming bladder. In several spe- 

 cies that organ is furnished with a multitude of branched 

 appendages (See Plate CCXCVII. figs. 6, 7, 8) ; and al- 

 though we cannot trace in it any connection with the ex- 

 terior, yet when we consider that many of the Sciaenidae are 

 more remarkable even than the gurnards for the produc- 

 tion of extraordinary sounds, it is difficult to believe that 

 the peculiar structure of the swimming bladder is not in 

 some way connected with their utterance. The Sciaenidae 

 are almost as numerous as the perches ; they are charac- 

 terised in a great measure by similar habits, and present 

 the same advantages to the human race. They almost 

 all afford excellent eating ; of several, indeed, the flavour 

 is exquisite ; and a few are of great size. The famous 

 maigre, for example (<S. aquila, Cuv.), commonly weighs 

 about sixty pounds, and sometimes attains to the length 

 of six feet. 



A. Two dorsal fins. 



Genus Sci^na, Cuv. Head gibbous, supported by ca- 

 vernous bones ; two dorsals, or one deeply emarginate, 

 with its softer portion much longer than the spinous ; a short 

 anal fin ; a dentated pre-opercle ; an opercle terminated by 

 points ; seven branchial rays. 



The species bear a great resemblance to perch, except 

 that they want the teeth upon the palate. Their whole 

 head is scaly, their swimming bladder irequently furnished 

 with remarkable appendages, and the stony bones of the 

 ear are larger than in most fishes. One of the most re- 

 markable is the maigre above alluded to (<S'. aquila), call- 

 ed Unibrina by the Romans, and held in high esteem 

 even at the present day. (Plate CCXCIX. fig. 10.) It is a 

 rare fish on the outer coasts of Europe, and disappears almost 

 entirely towards the north. The only example with which 

 we are acquainted of its appearance in the northern parts 

 of our own country is recorded by Dr Patrick Neill.^ It 

 was caught off Ugea in Northmavine, Shetland, in Novem- 

 ber 1819, and was first observed by the fishermen while 

 endeavouring to escape from a seal. It measured five feet 

 four inches in length, and when lifted into the boat, made 

 its usual " purring sound." Other instances are mention- 

 ed by Mr Yarrell. It is, however, extremely common in 

 many parts of the Mediterranean, especially along the Ro- 

 man states. Paul Jovius mentions that many are taken 

 there at the mouths of rivers, along with sturgeons. They 

 swim in troops, and are said to utter at times a singular 

 low bellowing beneath the waters. It is recorded that 

 three fishermen, guided by this sound, dropt their net on 

 one occasion so successfully as to secure twenty fine fish 

 at a single throw. The noise may be heard at a depth of 

 twenty fathoms, and is often very perceptible when the ear 

 is placed upon the gunnel of the boat. Its tone seems to 

 vary, as some have compared it to a dull buzzing, others 

 to a sharp whistle. Some of the fishermen allege that the 



' It appears that we now possess seven British species of stickle-back, of which the four-tpined (G. tpinulosus, Yarrell) was discovered 

 by Dr James Stark in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. He exhibited specimens to the AV'emerian Nat. Hist. Society in 1831. 

 ' £din. NcK Phil. Journ. No. 1. 



