FISHES 



In compiling the following list recently introduced species, such as 

 the American brook trout (Salmo fontinalis, Mitch.), the rainbow trout 

 (S. irideus, Giinther), etc., have not been mentioned, the indigenous and 

 long-resident species only being included. I must here acknowledge 

 my indebtedness to the lists of the late Robert Garner and Edwin 

 Brown, the names of these authorities being mentioned whenever their 

 observations have been quoted. A paper on ' North Staffordshire Fresh- 

 water Fish,' by Mr. John R. B. Masefield, M.A., in the Annual Report 

 and 'Transactions of the North Staffordshire Naturalists' Field Club and 

 Archaeological Society, vol. xxviii., is especially useful from containing 

 lists of localities which show the distribution of the several species in 

 the district of which he treats. 



TELEOSTEANS 



ACANTHOPTERYGII 



1. Perch. Perca fluvlatUis, Linn. 

 Common throughout the county. Perch 



have been taken in the Trent up to 4^ Ib. 

 in weight. 



2. Ruffe or Daddy Ruffe. Acerina cernua, 



Linn. 



Common in rivers and canals. 



3. Bullhead or Miller's Thumb. Coitus gobio, 



Linn. 



Plentiful in streams and in rivers where 

 gravel and stones are found. 



ANACANTHINI 



4. Burbot or Burbolt. Lota vulgaris, Cuv. 



Locally, Eel Pout. 



This curious and interesting fish is occa- 

 sionally taken in the Trent and its larger 

 tributaries up to 4 Ib. in weight. It has 

 long been known as a Staffordshire fish, 

 having been very quaintly described and 

 figured by Plot in his Natural History of 

 Staffordshire (1686). Plot's figure is a re- 

 duced copy of a picture drawn for Colonel 

 Comberford of a specimen ' taken in the 

 Tame, near Faseley Bridge, by Goody er 

 Holt, a Free Mason, as he was repairing 

 it, August nth, 1654.' Plot recorded three 

 other instances of the occurrence of the 

 burbot in Staffordshire. 



HEMIBRANCHII 



Gastrosteus 



5. Three - spined Stickleback. 

 aculeatus, Linn. 



This little fish is common in rivers, streams 

 and ponds throughout the county, and the 

 forms, originally described as distinct species 

 and now considered only varieties, known as 

 the rough-tailed (G. trachurus, Cuv.), half- 

 armed (G. semiarmatus, Cuv.) and smooth- 

 tailed sticklebacks (G. leuirus, Cuv.), are all 

 found in the Trent and its tributaries. The 

 brilliant colours assumed by the males during 

 the breeding season, their pugnacity and especi- 

 ally their nest-building, have rendered these 

 little fish famous, but the nest, according to 

 my own observations, is often a very flimsy 

 affair, being at times merely a little heap of 

 Conferva or other weed through which the 

 body of the male has made a tunnel and 

 which he jealously guards. The best example 

 however of a stickleback's nest which I have 

 ever seen I found in a pond in the neighbour- 

 ing county of Leicester. This was a well- 

 built, roughly cylindrical structure of roots 

 and small twigs, so well placed together that 

 the whole did not collapse when taken from 

 the water. In this case the materials of the 

 nest were not glued or cemented together in 

 any way, and I have never been able to see 

 the male engaged in strengthening the walls 

 of his house by means of the sticky mucus he 



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