MAY, 1882. 179 



did they resemble the ground in hue. We have no 

 doubt these gobies, so numerous in our little bay, would 

 account for a considerable percentage of the eggs and 

 young. The ground roughens meanwhile, and we roll 

 over a large stone, under which we observed a brilliantly- 

 coloured object to glide. Not to be seen ! As we gently 

 turn to the one next it, a flop in the water tells of some- 

 thing dropping off the upturned stone, and we have just 

 time to catch a glimpse of a reddish-yellow fellow that 

 we recognise and appreciate ; for he has been lifted up 

 along with the stone, while we expected to find him 

 cutting from under it. In fact, it is a pretty and interest- 

 ing specimen of a Cornish Sucker Fish (Couch) ; and we 

 have not gone far when we meet a companion to it, 

 equally bright, and with beautiful eyes ; but not nearly so 

 active in its movements or difficult to capture as the 

 Two-spotted Sucker Fish that also frequents our loch. 

 But these are mature specimens, of two to three inches 

 long, and stout build, and what we are seeking are fry ; 

 for other fishes must of a certainty be spawning already 

 this season. Stone after stone is carefully upturned, and 

 nothing shows but the ordinary Butter Fish (Gunellus), 

 so we decide that our eyesight, and not the season, is at 

 fault. Lower we drop, and gently move the smaller 

 stones and gravel we have uncovered, and soon we are 

 in the midst of the little world we are seeking. Not 

 under the large stones, but under the little ones beneath 

 them, are numbers of little black and grey specs, not to 

 be mistaken for anything but the young of the two species 

 of Coitus^ those big-headed, thorny customers that 

 frequent the rocky foreshores. Plaice are there, too, and 

 little slips of yellow, half transparent, that prove the 

 gunnel fish has been some time spawning ; and there, 



