Catalogue of the Fishes of Connecticut. 61 



*27. Gasterosteus quadratus, Mitchill, Four-spined Stickle- 

 back, Stratford. 



28. Gasterosteus millepunctatus, Ayres, Many-spotted Stickle- 

 back, Hartford. 



29. Gasterosteus apeltes, Cuv., Bloody Stickle-back, Stori- 

 ng ton. 



*30. Gasterosteus pungitius, Linn., Many-spined Stickle-back, 



Housatonic. 



Family Scienidcz. 



*3t. Leiostomus obliquus, Mitchill, Little Porgee, Branford. 

 *32. Otolithus resralis. Cuv., Weak Fish, Yellow-fin, common. 



Mitchill 



* 



34 Pogonias chromis, Cuv., Big Drum-Fish, Stratford. 



Family Sparidce. 



*35. Sargusovis, Mitchill, Sheepshead, Stratford. 

 36. Pagrus argyrops, Linn., Big Porgee, Bridgeport and New 

 Haven. 



*27. The four-spined stickle-back is not uncommon here, a few specimens of 

 *hich I have sent to Dr. Storer. 



*30. The ten or many-spined stickle-back I caught in a shrimp net in the Housa- 

 tonic, about 10 miles from its mouth, July 20, 1843. The dorsal rays were 8—8. 

 Two might have been lost by accident ; none, however, appeared to be missing 

 from the fish, and of course its rays are not always fixed to 10, either spinous or 

 flexuous. Dr.Dekay's figure of the G. occidentalism is a good representation of my 

 fi sh, and perhaps may be, as he conjectures, distinct from the pungitius. 



31. The little porgee 1 saw taken in very great numbers from the Sound, in 

 Branford, many years since, in a seine drawn for white fish, (A. mehadcn.) 



*32. The weak-fish are very numerous at the mouth of the Housatonic, in the 

 absence of blue fish, (Tcmnodon saltator.) These two species of fishes do not 



a gree to appear numerously at the same time, or same year; hence it is inferred, 

 that the voracious blue-fish makes war upon the weak-fish, or yellow-fin. 



*33. I have had a fine specimen of the king-fish, taken here in a seine. If cook- 

 ed and eaten immediately after caught, it is an excellent fish, but will bear no 



eepmg. 



34. The drum-fish abounds here. Sixty-two of enormous size were caught 

 hef e at one haul of a net this season, (1843.) I measured what was considered a 

 small one, that was three feet seven inches long, and one foot deep. They are 

 wlted by fishermen, and accounted by them as valuable. Their various colors have 

 established among fishermen what they call three kinds— the red, the black, and 

 * he b <urdless; but I imagine we have but one species in Connecticut, although Dr. 

 Mitchill 



made three. 



$>. Many of the sheepshead were caught here in the Housatonic, in 1842. They 

 are, however, considered rare and very valuable for the table. It has an extensive 

 fi e °graphical range. I have seen them very large and fine in Georgia and Florida. 

 The y usually sell at about seventeen cents per pound, both here and there. 



