66 BRITISH FISH AND FISHERIES. 



appear, I have seen one, during a battle, abso- 

 lutely rip his opponent quite open, so that he 

 sunk to the bottom and died. I have occasion- 

 ally known three or four parts of the tub taken 

 possession of by as many other little tyrants, 

 who guard their territories with the strictest 

 vigilance, and the slightest invasion invariably 

 brings on a battle. These are the habits of the 

 male fish alone ; the females are quite pacific, 

 appear fat as if full of roe, and never assume 

 the brilliant colours of the male, by whom, as 

 far as I have observed, they are unmolested." 

 This species, and two others, have three sharp 

 dorsal spines, but the present has the sides 

 throughout their whole length defended by a 

 series of vertical bony plates, forming a coat of 

 mail ; in the two others, the sides are only more 

 or less partially defended. In some places, 

 sticklebacks are so numerous that they are 

 caught in order to be strewed over the land by 

 way of manure. 



Another family is termed Sci&nidce, or that 

 of the maigres ; and we may take that cele- 

 brated fish, the maigre, (Scicena aquila^) as an 

 example. This fish can scarcely be termed 

 British, its appearance on our coast being acci- 

 dental. It is most abundant along the southern 

 side of the Mediterranean, but is taken off the 



