THE GEXUS FISTULARIA. 10J 



are sometimes fed on them, that oil is extracted from them in Eastern Russia, and they are 

 sometimes made into fish soup. 



The Ten-spined Stickleback (Gasterosteus punyitius) has the row of dorsal spines much lower 

 than in the foregoing species. There are no plates on the sides of the body in this species. The 

 male at the breeding-time becomes velvety-black. The nest of this Stickleback is built upon 

 aquatic plants, or among their roots, and has been compared to the nest of a Wren. 



The Fifteen-spined Stickleback, or Sea Adder (Gasterosteus spinachia), is a marine species, five 

 to seven inches long, which never ascends rivers, and makes its nest of seaweed or coralline, and 

 guards the eggs like the fresh-water species. It has the same rapacious habits, and feeds on the 

 eggs and fry of fishes, worms, and other marine animals. Mr. Richard Q. Couch carefully watched 

 the method of nest-making, and found that the materials were bound together with an elastic 

 thread, which resembled silk, which hardens by exposure to the water, and is seen under a magnifier 

 to consist of several smaller threads united together ; but the way in which it is secreted has not 

 been determined. The eggs are a bright amber colour. Couch records that on one occasion a 

 nest as large as the fist had been built in the hollow formed by the untwisted strands of a ropa 

 \vhich hung in the sea. The embryo when first hatched is unlike the parent, the head being round 

 and blunt instead of elongated, and the pectoral fins are relatively large, while the dorsal and anal 

 iins extend along the body to unite with the caudal fins. The ventral fins are at first absent. 

 The colour of the fish is variable, sometimes reddish-brown, sometimes dark green. It is met 

 with on all the northern coasts of Europe. 



FAMILY XLY. FISTULARID.E. 



The Fistularidee are fishes having a greatly elongated body, and the head is even longer than 

 in the Fifteen-spined Stickleback. In the Stickleback family the ventral fin is joined to the pubic 

 bone, but in the Fistularidse these fins are remote from the pubic bones. In the genus Fistularia 

 the body is withoiit scales, has no free dorsal spines, has the caudal fin forked with the two middle 

 rays prolonged into a filament. There are only two species of Fistularia known the Fistularia 

 tabaccaria and Fistularia serrata. The head is a long depressed tube, one-third of the total length 

 of the body ; there are bony shields immediately below the skin protecting the anterior part of 

 the trunk. The lateral line runs along the length of the dorsal shield, and then bends downward 

 to the middle of the side. There are four vertebrae united together in the neck into a solid mass, 

 forty-nine vertebrae in. the abdomen, and thirty-three in the tail. There are no ribs. The teeth 

 are small, and occur on the jaws, palatine bones, and vomer. The Fistularia tabaccaria is from the 

 tropical parts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans ; the Fistularia serrata ranges from the coast of 

 Mozambique to China and Australia. 



The second genus of this family Aulostoma has the body covered with small scales, has 

 ii series of feeble isolated dorsal spines, wants the filaments to the tail, and has rudimentary teeth. 

 One species is from the Caribbean Sea, the other ranges from the coast of Mozambique to th? 

 Western Pacific. The neck vertebras are blended together as in Fistularia. 



The thirteenth division is named Centrisciformes, a family comprising two genera. 



FAMILY XLYI.-CENTRISCID.E. 



The genus Centriscus has the body scaly, or covered with prickles, and the genus AmphisiU 

 is without scales, but has a bony cuirass, which is attached to the spine of the first dorsal vertebrae. 



The species of the genus Centriscus frequent Australia, China, and the southern part of Europe 

 and the Mediterranean. The Centriscus scolopax, which reaches the south coast of England, is 

 known as the Trumpet-fish, or Bellows-fish. Some authors have termed it the Sea Snipe. The 

 body is compressed and oblong, with the snout prolonged like a tube, which terminates in a narrow 

 toothless mouth. There are two small dorsal fins placed far back. The second spine of the first 

 dorsal fin is long, very strong, and has its hinder border serrated. The body is covered with small 

 spiny scales ; there is no lateral line. There are several bony plates on the back and abdomen ; the 

 ventral fins are as close together as in the Gobies, and they are received into a groove on the belly. 

 There are eight vertebrae in the abdomen, which are strong and large, and the transverse processes 



