xvi. THORNIES AND TINKERS. 229 



not quite, regained his full brilliance. I leave my readers 

 to put what anthropomorphic interpretation they like upon 

 these facts, which I prefer, without comment, simply to 

 relate as they occurred. 



.Let me here describe one of my little friends. It is a 

 small, gracefully-lined fish. Two large moveable spines 

 occupy the mid-region of the back, and behind them is a 

 third, smaller spine, immediately followed by the posterior 

 dorsal fin which occupies the hinder part of the back. 

 Corresponding to this fin there is, on the under side but 

 beginning somewhat further back, the anal fin. The belly 

 is armed with a large bony plate, which gradually narrows 

 to a point directed backwards. From this bony stomacher 

 the genus derives its name Gasterosteus. On either side of 

 this ventral shield is the long, sharp, serrated spine which 

 constitutes so formidable a weapon of offence, enabling the 

 little fish to inflict a terrible wound on an antagonist. It 

 forms one of the two rays on which the very small mem- 

 brane of the ventral fin is spread, and can be either 

 projected at right angles to the body or folded up close to 

 the belly. The pectoral fins are in a line with or a little 

 in front of the first dorsal spine. The skin is not provided 

 with scales ; but with a magnifying glass it is seen to be 

 dotted over with minute pigment spots. If a small piece 

 of the skin be shaved off (from a recently killed or pre- 

 served specimen) and examined under the microscope, the 

 spots are seen to be irregularly star-shaped. These irregular 

 black or coloured stars, set in a background of closely 

 woven intersecting fibres, form an object of no little beauty. 

 While we are shaving off the piece of skin for microscopic 

 examination we may notice that the mid-segment of the 

 body is completely ensheathed in bony scutes, composed of 

 dorsal plates above, the belly shield below, and lateral 

 plates at the sides. Thus it is interesting to find that the 



