GASTEROSTEUS PUNGITTUS. 81 



belly in March, and gradually extends over the body. In Scandinavia it is 

 olive-green, with a coppery-silvery tone below, according- to Lloyd. Its 

 habits are similar to those of the other species, being equally fond of 

 society, and often found in large shoals; but it is even fiercer and more 

 pugnacious. 



Lloyd states that the fishing season for Sticklebacks in Sweden begins 

 in November, and continues till the ice begins to form. At nightfall the 

 spot where the fishes are congregated is seen on a clear evening from the 

 ruffled state of the water. Then two men go to the spot in a boat, with 

 a torch of wood burning at one end. One man steadies the boat with a 

 pole driven into the ground, while the other scoops up the fish with a 

 landing-net; and sometimes they obtain several boatloads in this way in 

 a single night. 



The eggs are orange. When abundant the fish is boiled for oil, four 

 bushels of fish yielding two or three gallons of oil, which is used for lamps 

 in Scandinavia. It is common in the Baltic and North Sea, is met with in 

 the estuaries of rivers, but is found chiefly in small tributary streams far 

 up their course, and occurs in almost every lake and river in Sweden, where 

 it is called the Smd Spigg. Pigs are sometimes fed upon it. Blanchard 

 distinguishes varieties in France, which he names G. burgundianus, G. favis, 

 G. lotharingus, and G. breviceps, but they are less easily characterised than 

 the varieties of G. aculeatus. Giinther includes the Gasteroateus occidentalis 

 (C. and V.) as a North American variety of this species. 



The fifteen-spined Stickleback, Gasterosteus spinachia, is a marine species, 

 common on the coasts of all the northern countries of Europe. It is particu- 

 larly abundant in some parts of the Baltic Sea, where it is used for manure and 

 as food for pigs ; but it is rare on the Prussian coast. It rarely enters rivers 

 and fresh waters in Scandinavia, and is almost unknown in the fresh waters of 

 Britain. 



