122 MAY. 



in the adult become so conspicuous and remarkable ; 

 being something like strong rose-spines, each set on an 

 oval button of bone, imbedded in the skin. 



Another draught presents us with the Fifteen-spined 

 Stickleback, 1 a little fish, remarkable for its form, but 

 much more so for its habits. It is ordinarily about five 

 or six inches in length, very slender and lithe, from 

 which circumstance, combined with a protrusion of the 

 jaws, which gives it a sinister expression, it is on some 

 parts of the coast called the Sea- Adder. The lower jaw 

 projects considerably beyond the upper, which indicates 

 that the fish habitually takes its food from a point above 

 the level of its own body. The dorsal and anal fins are 

 high and short, so as to form, when erected, nearly equal- 

 sided triangles ; but the former is preceded by fifteen 

 minute sharp erectile spines, each of which has its own 

 little membrane, and all together represent the spinous 

 portion of the dorsal fin in such fishes as have but one, 

 as the Blennies, or the first dorsal in such as have two, 

 as the Weevers. The caudal is narrowly lozenge- formed, 

 as ordinarily carried, but becomes fan-like when ex- 

 panded. The colours are deep sepia, or olive- brown, 

 cast into streaks and irregular clouds, on the sides, 

 where they are interrupted by white, and by a rich 

 golden yellow, that extends over the inferior surface : 



1 Gasterosteus spinachia, represented by the upper figure in Plate xin. 



