TPIE LUMP-FISH. 285 



depressed, to the base of the tail. The succeeding rays rapidly diminish in length, the 

 fourth being extremely short, barely an inch in length. The pectorals are rounded and 

 triangular, the central ray being the largest. The length of the Gemmeous Dragonet is 

 about ten or eleven inches. 



More than twenty species of Dragonets are known, spread over a very large portion of 

 the globe, and inhabiting the temperate seas of the Old World, and the Indian Ocean from 



GEMMEOUS DRAGONET. Callionymus lyra. 



Mozambique to the Western Pacific islands. They are marine fishes, and inhabit the 

 bottom of the sea at no great distance from the shore. 



WE now come to a very small, but curious family, termed Discoboli, or Quoit-fishes, 

 because the spines of the ventral fins are modified into a flattened disc, something like the 

 quoit of the ancients. This disc has a soft, leathery margin, and enables them to attach 

 themselves to rocks or stones after the manner of the gobies. 



A very good British example of these curious fishes may be found in the LUMP-SUCKEK, 

 otherwise called the LUMP- FISH, SEA-OWL, and COCK-PAIDLE, the latter name being given 

 to it on account of the elevated ridge along the back, which is covered with a notched and 

 tuberculated skin not unlike the comb of the cock. 



The sucker or disc of this fish is capable of very powerful adhesion, retaining its hold 

 with such tenacity, that on one occasion, when a Lump-fish was placed in a pail containing 

 several gallons of water, it immediately affixed itself to the bottom, and held so firmly, that 

 when grasped by the tail and lifted, it raised the vessel in which it was placed, notwith- 

 standing the combined weight of the water and pail. 



The Lump-fish is said to make a kind of home, and to hover about the spot where 

 the eggs are placed, for the purpose of guarding them from foes. When thus engaged 

 it is a brave and combative fish, permitting no other finny inhabitant of the water to pass 

 within a certain distance of its charge, and, in cases of necessity, biting fiercely with its 

 short but sharp teeth. It is said that after the young have attained some little size, 

 they attach themselves to their careful parent, who conveys the young family into deep 

 water. 



It is tolerably plentiful on the northern coasts of this country, and is frequently seen 

 in the Scotch markets, where it holds a place only second to the turbot. The male is 

 thought superior to the female, but is not so large. In the breeding season, the abdomen 



