336 PISCES (OSSEI) ACANTHOPT. [TRACHINUS. 



length ; first ray short and spinous ; the rest articulated, with the last 

 three branched; fourth ray in the fin longest: number of rays, 



D. 631 ; A. 131 ; C. 13 ; P. 16 ; V. 1/5. 



Number of vertebrae forty. (Colours.) Back and upper portion of the 

 sides reddish brown, with interrupted lines of black and yellow, running 

 parallel with the oblique rows of scales; lower part of the sides, and 

 abdomen, white, with interrupted yellow lines : first dorsal with the web 

 deep black; second dorsal and caudal pale, more or less spotted with 

 brown. 



Met with occasionally at Weymouth, Hastings, Scarborough, and other 

 parts of the coast. Is much apprehended by fishermen on account of its 

 spines, which are sharp, and capable of inflicting a severe wound : they 

 are usually considered as venomous, but, in the opinion of Cuvier, there 

 is no real secretion of any poisonous fluid. Feeds on small fish, Crustacea, 

 and marine insects. Spawns in June. 



7- T. Vipera, Cuv. (Little Weever.) Entire length 

 four times the depth of the body : second dorsal with 

 twenty-four rays : lower jaw nearly vertical. 



T. Vipera, Cuv. et Vol. Poiss. torn. in. p. 189. Cuv. Reg. An. 

 torn. ii. p. 152. T. Draco, Block, Ichth. pi. 61. Don. Brit. Pish. 

 vol. i. pi. 23. Flem. Brit. An. p. 213. Common Weever, Penn. 

 Brit. Zool. vol. in. p. 169. pi. 28. no. 71. Id. (Edit. 1812.) 

 vol. in. p. 226. pi. 32. Lesser Weever, Yarr. Brit. Fish. vol. i. 

 p. 25. 



LENGTH. Five or six inches ; rarely more. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Much resembling the T. Draco, but deeper in 

 proportion to its length, owing to the greater convexity of the abdomen : 

 profile not falling, but in the same horizontal line with the back ; lower 

 jaw more nearly vertical ; when the mouth is opened wide, the upper jaw 

 becomes exactly vertical, and the lower forms with it a right angle : sides 

 very much compressed: greatest depth beneath the first dorsal, equalling 

 one-fourth of the length, caudal excluded; thickness half the depth: 

 teeth (in the lower jaw especially) very sharp, and somewhat longer 

 in proportion than in the last species : the toothed scale, formed by the 

 supra- scapular and part of the omoplat, of a different form, rounded, bilo- 

 bated, and more deeply denticulated: lateral line commencing at the 

 above scale, and running nearly straight throughout its course : the 

 oblique transverse lines on the sides, formed by the scales, much less 

 strongly marked : first dorsal more distinctly separated from the second ; 

 the fifth and sixth spines (the last especially) very small and inconspi- 

 cuous : pectorals pointed, about equal in length to the depth of the body : 

 caudal rounded : number of fin rays, 



D. 623 or 24 ; A. 25 ; C. 13 j P. 14 ; V. 1/5. 



(Colours.) Back reddish gray; sides and abdomen much paler than in 

 the last species, approaching to silvery white, with faint indications of 

 transverse yellow lines : the web connecting the four first spines of the 

 first dorsal deep black : a black spot at the extremity of the caudal fin. 



Rather more common than the last species, and met with on various 

 parts of the British coast. Said to conceal itself in the loose soil at the 



