FISHES. 475 



appearance, much resembles the last, from which, how- 

 ever, it differs in having two spines on the preopercle, 

 and a transverse band of dark spots on the ventrals. 

 Is occasionally taken in brackish water off the Stock- 

 holm coast, and Widigren includes it in his list of fish met 

 with in Laggat Trask (fresh water), near Quickiock, Lulea 

 Lapland, but it has never been identified in the south of 

 Norway or Sweden. 



14. C. SCORPIUS, L. Eot Simpa. The Father Lasher. 



D. F. 



The largest of all the bull-heads. Met with only 



in salt water; frequently attains the length of one 



foot ; two erect spines before the eyes ; preopercle with 



three spines, the longest of which does not reach the 



point of the longest spine in the opercle ; colour green ; 



lateral line soft. D. 1014; P. 15; V. 1,4; A. 11. 



Is common on all the Scandinavian coasts, and found 



not only in the Bothnia, but even in the Polar Ocean, from 



Waranger Fjord to the White Sea. Spawns here in the end 



of autumn; and, from the circumstance of one's seeing scarcely 



one male to ten females, in the shoals that come on to the 



coasts at this time, Ekstrom fancies that the roe is fructified 



before the female deposits it. 



15. C. BUBALIS, Euph. Dverg Simpa. The Four-spined 



Father Lasher. D. F. 



Much resembles the last, with which it till lately has 

 been confounded. According to Nilsson, however, it 

 is much smaller, as he says he has never here seen a 

 specimen exceeding 6-^ in. in length. The colour is 

 more brilliant than in the father lasher. It has, more- 

 over, three great spines before the eyes and four on the 

 preopercle, the longest of which reaches as far back as 

 the longest spine in the opercle. There is also some 

 difference in the fin ray formula. D. 7 12 ; P. 14 ; 

 Y. 1,3 ; A. 9. 



Is met with in all the Scandinavian seas, from the Sound 

 to far up on the coast of Norway, but is not included in 



