FATHER-LASHEU. 63 



ACANTHOPTERYGll. WITH HARD CHEEKS. 





FATHER-LASHER, LONG-SPINED COTTUS. 



LUCKY PROACH. Scotland. 



Coitus bubalis, EUPHRASEN. 



Cuv. et VALENC. Hist. Nat. des Poiss. t. iv. p. 165, pi. 78. 

 ,, scorpius, Father-Lasher, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 294, pi. 44. 

 DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 35. 



,, ,, ,, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 216, sp. 156. 



THE FATHER-LASHER is immediately recognised by its 

 well-armed head and long spines, but seldom measures 

 more than from six to ten inches in length on our shores. 

 The general appearance of this fish is forbidding; yet in 

 Greenland, besides attaining a much larger size, it is in 

 such great request, that Pallas tells us it fonns the prin- 

 cipal food of the natives, and the soup made of it is 

 said to be agreeable as well as wholesome. During the 

 greater part of the year it is to be found on our coast 

 from Cornwall to the Orkneys, and is frequently left by 



