COTTUS.] PISCES (OSSEI) ACANTHOPT. 345 



last with all the rays simple, but flexible and articulated : anal a little 

 more backward than the second dorsal, and generally terminating nearer 

 the caudal : pectorals very broad, rounded at the extremity ; rays simple ; 

 seventh and eighth longest : veutrals narrow ; the spinous ray and first 

 soft one so intimately united as to appear but one : 



D. 9 or 1014 or 15 ; A. 11 ; C. 12, and some short ; P. 17 ; V. 1/3. 



Number of vertebrae thirty-four or thirty-five. (Colours.) Reddish gray, 

 marbled and spotted with dusky and brown; belly whitish: fins pale, 

 with spots and specks of brown forming irregular transverse bars. 



Apparently not so abundant on the British coasts as the next species, 

 with which it was for a long time confounded. Inhabits rocky shores, 

 and is of solitary habits. Swells out its head when attacked, endeavour- 

 ing to wound with the spine on the preopercle. Is very voracious, and 

 feeds on Crustacea. Colours variable. According to Bloch, spawns in 

 December and January. 



18. C. Bubalis, Euph. (Four-spined Father-lasher.) 

 Two erect spines before the eyes: preopercle with four 

 spines ; the first one-third the length of the head. 



C. Bubalis, Guv. et Val. Poiss. torn. iv. p. 120. pi. 78. Cuv. Reg. 

 An. torn. ii. p. 163. Yarr. in Zool. Jowrn. vol. iv. p. 470. 

 Father-lasher, Will. Hist. Pise. p. 138. tab. H. 4. f. 3. Penn. 

 Brit. Zool. vol. in. p. 218. Id. (Edit. 1812.) vol. m. p. 294. Yarr. 

 Brit. Fish. vol. i. p. 63. 



LENGTH. From seven to nine inches. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Very similar to the last species, but differs in the 

 following points. The head is rougher ; the space between the eyes nar- 

 rower, arid more concave : the occipital ridges are closer together, more 

 prominent, and very finely denticulated ; behind, they terminate each in 

 a sharp, strong, and well-defined point ; the space included between the 

 ridges is twice as long as it is broad : the great spine on the preopercle is 

 nearly one-third the length of the head ; beneath it are three, instead of 

 only two, smaller ones : spine on the opercle, as well as the tubercles 

 which form the lateral line, rough and granulated, in some cases finely 

 denticulated : second dorsal with only eleven or twelve, very rarely thir- 

 teen rays: anal with only nine; terminating before the second dorsal, 

 instead of after it, as in the last species. 



D. 811 to 13; A. 9; C. 10; P. 16; V. 1/3. 



(Colours.) Similar to those of the C. Scorpio, but the belly, lower part 

 of the sides, and membranes of the anal and pectoral fins, with a bright 

 red tinge, rarely observed in the other species. 



First distinguished as British by Mr. Yarrell. Common on many parts 

 of the coast, and having the same habits as those of the last species. Is 

 evidently the one described by Willughby as well as Pennant, though the 

 figure of this last author on the whole more resembles the C. Scorpio. 

 Food, Crustacea and the fry of other fish. Spawns in January. 



19. C. quadricornis, Linn. (Four-horned Father-lasher.) 

 Four tubercles on the occiput: preopercle with three spines. 



C. quadricornis, Linn. Syst. Nat. torn. i. p. 451. Bloch, Ichth. 

 pi. 108. Cuv. et Val. Poiss. torn. iv. p. 123. Cuv. Reg. An. 

 torn. ii. p. 163. Four-horned Cottus, Yarr. Brit. Fish. vol. i. p. 68. 



