HU'ITKKFISH. 237 



whom wc know he was indebted for other information as 

 regards Cornish natural history. 



This fish is not met with in deep water, and near the shore 

 it frequents oo/y ground, especially in tidal liarbours; where 

 it keeps near low-water mark, and is often left concealed under 

 a stone, at a i'cw feet or yards from the border of the low'cst 

 tide. It is a native of northern climates, and is known even 

 in Greenland, where it is said to reach a larger size than is 

 usual in the British Islands. Xilsson says that it is found on 

 the coasts of Finmark and Xorway, down to the moutli of 

 the Baltic, but not in the more eastward part of that sea, 

 where it is probable the water is too fresh to sustain its life. 

 It is also a native of all the shores of the British Islands, 

 wherever it can find suitable shelter and subsistence; but 

 everyw^here it may be considered a solitary fish, as it is not 

 common to find two or three together. It is said to be found 

 also in jS'orth America, but it may be doubted whether tlic 

 American fish is not a distinct species, which, however, Mr. 

 Yarrell, on comparison of specimens, believed it not to be. Its 

 food appears to be for the most part the smaller crustaceous 

 animals. 



Nilsson says its spaAvn is shed in November, but it is 

 probable that the season holds through the summer. In the 

 first week in June, Mr. Peach, "who then resided at Fowey, 

 discovered the grains of what there seems to be no room for 

 doubting to be the spawn of the Butterfish, attached to the 

 under surface of a stone in the harbour of that port, with the 

 supposed parent near it; and with a microscope a considerable 

 progress Avas rendered evident in the development of th(> 

 embrvo fish, as promising a speedy birth with resemblance to 

 the supposed parent. 



An usual size of the Butterfish is five or six inches in 

 length, and the general shape is long, compressed, and of 

 nearly equal depth from the head to the tail. The head slopes 

 gently from the front of the dorsal fin to the mouth, where 

 the jaM's are equal; gape narrow, and opening obliquely 

 doAvnward; teeth regular, and some in the palate; eyes high 

 on the head. The body smooth and slippery; vent at about 

 half its length, excluding the tail; a slight mark of a lateral 

 line. The dorsal fin begins in a line above the border of the 



