466 THE SEA-SCORPION. 



the Sea-Scorpion is from eight to ten inches ; but on the 

 coast of Norway it reaches a somew hat larger size. Bloch, 

 indeed, tells us it has there been known to attain a 

 length of four feet, though this is evidently a mistake, 

 arising probably from his having confounded the Lophlus 

 piscatorius with this fish. The male is much smaller and 

 more slenderly shaped than the female ; and there is, 

 also, great difference in colour, so that the fishei"men 

 sometimes imagine them to be different species. It is 

 very difficult for any one who has not seen this fish 

 during tbe spawning season, when its hues are the 

 brightest, to conceive to himself the admixture of brilliant 

 colours with whicli it, in other respects so ill-favoured, is 

 at that time adorned. The reader, however, may foi'm 

 some idea of its beauty by reference to the annexed 

 drawing by M. TVilhelm von "Wright, faithfully taken 

 from the living fish. 



Its food during the summer consists chiefly of the 

 smaller kinds of fish ; but in the winter, when these fall 

 short, it lives on crustaceans and molluscs. Few fishes 

 can compete with it in voracity. It is on record that three 

 roach, each nearly four inches in length, were found in 

 the stomach of an individual only nine inches long. 

 And its stupidity, or rather, perhaps, boldness, is on a 

 par with its rapacity, for we are told that if it be poked with 

 a stick when in the water, it will only make a slight 

 movement forward, and then presently come to a standstill. 

 It is further said, that if captured by the lihe (as frequently 

 happens when fishing for codlings, &c.), and a por- 

 tion of its fins be cut aw^ay to mark it, and afterwards 

 thrown back into the water, it will frequently take the 

 very same hook a few minutes subsequently, and once 

 more be ready to undergo the like operation. The 

 spawning season with the Sea-Scorpion is in December; 

 but even towards the end of October it approaches 



