470 Mr. Yarrell's Remarks on English Fishes. 



dorsal and anal fin much deeper and thicker in substance than in the first 

 species. The two Eels here described were of the same length. The 

 sharp-headed fish measured two inches in girth, and was a male, the 

 blunt-headed species measured 2-| inches, and proved a female ; of five 

 others examined as to the sexual organs, two were males and three fe- 

 males, exhibiting distinctly their milt and ova. The figure in Bloch is 

 that of the sharp-headed eel, that in Meyer, plate 42, is a representa- 

 tion of the blunt-headed Eel ; both species appear therefore to be known 

 on the continent. I have said nothing of colour in either, believing that 

 it affords no true specific distinction, and may partly depend on the qua- 

 lity of the water from which they have been taken. This species may 

 be the Grig of Pennant, but this is stated to be of small size and less 

 fat than the sharp-headed species. This has not been the case with num- 

 bers that I have examined by comparison, which have universally ap- 

 peared one-fourth larger in circumference, for equal length, and in good 

 condition. A prejudice exists that all fishes with large heads are in bad 

 condition or out of season, which though true in regard to Trout or Salmon, 

 is certainly not founded in fact with respect to Eels. 



COTTUS BUBALIS. 



During the summer months of last year, when pursuing the inves- 

 tigation of the distinctions between the Whitebait and Shads, I was 

 supplied with three examples of the genus Cottus, taken at the mouth 

 of the Thames, which at that time, more intent on the subject I had 

 in hand, I took no notice of beyond placing them in a preserving 

 liquid, believing them to be specimens of Cottus Scorpius. When fa- 

 voured lately with a visit from M. Valenciennes, and looking over a small 

 collection of British Fishes together, that gentleman pointed out these 

 specimens as examples of the Cottus Bubalis, and demonstrated the spe- 

 cific differences between Bubalis and Scorpius. The Cottus Bubalis ap- 

 pears to have been noticed by Euphrasen, Nouv. Mem. de Stockholm, 

 Vol. VII, plate 4, fig. 2 and 3 ; it is also noticed in the Regne Animal 

 of Baron Cuvier, Vol. II. page 306, note. 



The Cottus Bubalis is distinguished by having the head still more power- 

 fully armed than the Father Lasher, and is thus characterised by Schneider, 

 Vol. I. p. 62. " Capita depresso, scabro, spinoso, bicorni, ocuhs 



