288 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Descriptions. 



THE TEN-SPINED STICKLEBACK. 



THIS is still less than the three-spined stickle- 

 back, never exceeding an ounce and a half in 

 weight. Bloch declares that it is the smallest fish 

 that exists, and the only kind that is useless to 

 man. It is found in the Baltic sea and German 

 ocean, and in all the bays and creeks communi- 

 cating with them. But it is seldom taken, being 

 so small as to pass through the meshes of the 

 net; and even if the fishermen find any of them 

 among a net of other fish, they throw them away 

 as good for nothing. 



THE FIFTEEN-SPINED STICKLE- 

 .BACK, or GREAT STICKLEBACK. 



THIS fish, which is the largest species of the 

 sticklebacks, is slender, being only an inch thick 

 and nine in length ; the snout is long, and the 

 body of a pentagonal figure towards the tail, 

 which is flat. The mouth is small, and the upper 

 jaw projects beyond the lower. The gills and 

 the bony plate on the belly are brown upon the 

 upper part, silvery and streaked upon the lower. 

 It has two pectoral fins, one dorsal, rising in a 

 triangular form from the middle of the back. 

 Between this and the head are fifteen distinct 

 spines inclined towards the tail, which, when de- 

 pressed, are insensible to the touch. The fins of 



