SHEIMPER AND GREBE CHOKED BY BULLHEADS. 25 



neither backwards nor forward, so I could neither press 

 it down the oesophagus nor pull it out altogether. Mr. 

 Grebe evidently was not aware that the miller's thumb 

 was armed with two very sharp spikes on each side of the 

 gill cover, and when the fish found himself in trouble 

 he simply expanded these spines, which fixed him so 

 firmly in the bird's mouth that he died from suffoca- 

 tion. I have had two or three specimens sent me of 

 kingfishers destroyed by bullheads sticking in their 

 throats. 



SEA 'bullhead. 



Acanthopteri. Sclerogenidm. 



[Cottus scorpius.) 



Local names: Sea scorpions, Sea devils, Sea toads, and Father- 

 lashers. German: Der seeskorpion. Danish: Ulk. Swedish: 

 Skraba. French : La Cotte scorpion. 



The Father-Lasher, Sting-Fish, or Long-SpinedCottus, 

 is a very common fish among the rocks upon the British 

 coast, and is very frequently found left in fishing weirs 

 when the tide goes down. It is often caught in shrimp 

 nets, for its principal food consists of shrimps ; its 

 head and cheeks are armed with spines. The Folkestone 

 fishermen call it the bull-rout. AVhen taken out of 

 the w.ater, it always distends its gills as wide as it 

 IDOssibly can ; the spines on the gill covers are for- 

 midable weapons. A man who w^as fishing w^itli a 

 shrimp-net caught a father-lasher, and without think- 

 ing, tried to bite its head off ; the fish gave a sudden 

 kick and slipped down his throat ; it then expanded its 

 gills, the spines stuck in the man's throat, and he was 

 shortly suffocated. 



