SHORE FISHES. 269 



The Fifteen-spined Stickleback (Gasterosteus spinachid) has 

 long been famed to be a capital builder of nests. It is at 

 low-tide we are most likely to find this fish, though it does 

 occasionally occur in the rock-pools higher up. We may be 

 inclined at first sight, previous to capturing it, to regard it as 

 one of the Pipe-fishes, already described ; but its short and 

 broad dorsal and ventral fins and its deeply-cut jaws should 

 be sufficient to at once identify it, especially if an eye is turned 

 to the threatening array of fifteen short stout spines that arm 

 the back in front of the dorsal fin. Its colour varies from 

 green to brown ; in fact, the one individual changes in hue at 

 times. It is much larger than its familiar three-spined relative 

 of fresh-water streams and ponds, and usually attains a length 

 of six inches. The lower jaw is longer than the upper, and 

 both are furnished with teeth. By means of a mucus thread 

 they are able to produce, they weave and bind together some 

 of the softer and more delicate seaweeds, giving solidity by 

 working in a few branching corallines, until they have elabor- 

 ated a large pear-shaped mass, as big as a man's fist. In this 

 the eggs are deposited, and thereafter are watched assiduously 

 by the male parent, who will brook no interference, but will 

 fiercely ^attack any w r ould-be spoiler of his nursery. 



Beneath the illustration of the Stickleback on page 267, 

 there is represented the fore-portion of the Lesser Weever 

 (Trachinus mperd). It is not strictly a shore fish, but it has 

 the habit, shared by a larger relative, the Greater Weever 

 (T. draco), of half-burying itself in sand and getting left dry 

 by the ebbing tide. It may, therefore, be found by one of my 

 readers in one of those spits of sand that occur between the 

 rocks, and it is mentioned here, for the sake of warning. It 

 must not be caught in the hands like a Shanny or Gunnel, for 

 on the gill-covers of each side there is a long, hard, and sharp 

 spine, which the fish knows how to use with such effect that 

 whoever handles the Weever is likely to have a badly-injured 

 hand. Terrible stories are told by fishermen of its effects, 



