THE LUMPENUS NEBULOSTJS AND SPOTIED GUNNEL. 483 



it would appear to live chiefly in deep water. Its food is 

 said to consist of crustaceans and other small animals 

 living at the bottom ; nevertheless the stomachs of these 

 fish are generally empty at the time of capture. It is 

 said to spawn late in the autumn, and Swedish natu- 

 ralists seem to think that they regularly pair. It is 

 very hard-lived ; and if the water l)e changed daily, 

 will exist for a long time in a small tvib or other vessel. 

 When thus imprisoned, it keeps for the most part at the 

 bottom, its body always straight, and its pectoral fins 

 extended, so that it rests as it were on their extreme 

 points, which to a certain extent have a digital appearance, 

 and act as feet during its slow creeping-like progression. 



The Lumpcnus nebulosus, B. Fries (^Spets-stjertad 

 Lang-barn, or, sharp-tailed ling's-child, Sw.), has only in 

 one instance, I believe, been captured in the Bohus 

 Skiirgard, but on several occasions in the neighbouring 

 Christiania Fjord. On the western and northern coasts of 

 Norway, however, it is much more common, but nowhere 

 plentiful. In appearance this fish, also an inhabitant of 

 the Arctic seas, differs but little from the L. maculattts, 

 excepting in the shape of its tail, and in superior size ; for 

 though usually of from nine to ten inches in length, it 

 measures at times nearly a foot. It is said to spawn 

 about Christmas. 



The Spotted Gunnel, or Butterfish {Tejste-Fisk, Sw. ; 

 Gunnellus vulgaris, Flem.), is common on the western 

 coast of both Sweden and JVorwav, from Finniark to the 

 Sound ; and is also found in the more southern pai'ts of 

 the Baltic. This fish supplies the chief sustenance for the 

 Black Guillemot, or Tejste, and hence its Swedish name. 

 From its peculiar shape it is also called the Scdrd-Fisk, or 

 sword-fish. In the Scandinavian waters its usual length 

 is from six to nine inches. One seldom sees it stretched 

 out at full length, but commonly more or less coiled up. 



2 I 2 



