122 



CtEMOID ACAMTII0PTF.nE3.- 



-FISHES.- 



-SCLEROGEXIDS. 



are firm and wholesome fisli, and are more or less 

 (joramon in our markets. Also we reckon among the 

 British fish the Mailed Gurnard [Peristedion malar- 

 mat) ; the Miller's Thumb [Coitus gohio); the Sea- 

 scorpion or Sutor {Acant/iocoltus scorpius) ; the Father 

 Lasher (Cotties 6i(ia?/s) ; the Horned Bullhead (^can- 

 thocoltus quadricornis) ; the Kaniok [Acanthocoltus 

 grmnlandkua) ; the Poggie or Lyrie [Aspidophorus 

 enropceus) ; the Bergylt {Sehastes norvefficus) ; the 

 Rough-tailed Stickleback {Gaslerosteus irachurus) ; 

 the Half-mailed Stickleback {Gasterosleus semiar- 

 matus) ; the Smooth-tailed Stickleback {Gaslerosteus 

 leiurus) ; the Short-spined Stickleback [Gaslerosteus 

 hradnjcentrus) \ the Fonr-spined Stickleback [Gasle- 

 rosteus spimdosus) ; the Tinker [Gaslerosteus puiir/i- 

 lius) ; ami the Bisraore [Gasterosleus spinachia). 



The Gurnards are remarkable for producing sounds 

 by some raecJianism which has not been clearly de- 

 monstrated. The fact, however, has long been known 

 to fisliermen, and has been productive of various 

 Bpeculations by physiologists. Many of the local 

 names of the species have reference to the sounds 

 they produce when in the act of being drawn from the 

 sea. The Prionotus j^ikdus is called " Pig-fish" on 

 the coasts of New Jersey, because of its loud croaking 

 or barking as it is drawn to the shore in a seine. Mr. 

 Spencer Baird, secretary of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, who had an opportunity of witnessing the phe- 

 nomenon, thought the sounds were produced in the 

 belly of the fish. Dr. Davy has discovered flat grind- 

 ing teeth in the cesophagus of the Red Gurnard. 



By the great size of the pectoral fins the species of 

 daclylopterus, called at Barbadoes the "Guinea-man" 

 — (Plate 7, fig. 37) — are able to rise from the water and 

 fly through the air like the Exoavti or Flying-fishes 

 already mentioned. With such force does the Daetij- 

 lopterus pursue its flight, that it will spring upon the 

 deck of a ship of war ; and it has been known to strike 

 a sailor on the forehead in its flight and knock him 

 down. In the clear waters of the Booca Tigris, oli' 

 Trinidad, great sculls of these fish may be seen near 

 the bottom, perpetually fluttering their large wing-like 

 pectorals. Syitanceia horrida is the Ikaii-swangi or 

 Soreerer-fish of the Malays, and Synanceia braehio is 

 the abhorred Fl-fi of the negroes of the Mauritius. 

 The Sticklebacks or Benticles abound in the fresh- 

 water ponds and streams of Europe and North Ame- 

 rica, and multiply to such a degree that tliey are taken 

 by cart-loails for the purpose of manuring the land. 

 Some species inhabit the sea or fresh-water inditl'er- 

 ently, and they flourish far within the arctic circle. 

 In the Catalogue of Fishes in the British Museum, 

 formed by Dr. Albert Giinther in 1859, the Stickle- 

 backs form a proper family named GaslerosleidiT.. 



Many fishes, having deposited their eggs in suitable 

 places, visit them no more, and evince no traces of 

 parental instinct; but this is not true of all, and both 

 ancient and modern observers have recorded instances 

 of the boldness and pertinacity with which certain fishes 

 defend their progeny. The action of this instinct in 

 the Sticklebacks has attracted attention of late years; 

 and as these small fishes breed readily in glazed vivaria, 

 the principal facts have been verified by several ichthy- 



ologists. Mr. Thomas Crookenden published Obser- 

 vations on the Nidiflcation of the Stickleback in the 

 "Youth's Instructor" for 1834. Signore Costa and M. 

 Lecoq watched the proceedings of these fish in the 

 Mediterranean in 184G, and sent accounts of what they 

 saw to the Academie des Sciences, since published 

 in Wiegman's " Archiven fiir Naturgeschichte," and 

 in D'Orbigny's " Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle." 

 Albany Hancock, Esq., read a paper on the same sub- 

 ject before the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club, and 

 Messrs. R. Q. Couch, Kinahan, and Warrington sent 

 interesting accounts of their observations to the 

 "Zoologist" for 1852-54. 



All the Sticklebacks, whether they are inhabitants 

 of fresh or salt water, make nests for their eggs, and 

 the methods the dilTercnt species pursue do not difl'er 

 much ; though some species give a preference to one 

 situation, others to another. The Rough and Smooth- 

 tailed Sticklebacks, for instance, prefer a nuiddy or 

 sandy foundation, while the Tinker and Bismore select 

 a niche among the leaves or branches of water plants. 

 Some species make a nest resembling a mole-hill in 

 form ; others construct one like a mutV, open at the 

 two ends. Signore Costa is the authority we chiefly 

 follow in giving the ensuing details. The work of 

 nidification is performed solely by the male Stickle- 

 back, the female taking no part in the labour ; and 

 when the spawning season arrives, the male fish, having 

 assumed a brilliant nuptial lustre, shows extraordinary 

 activity in securing a site for his edifice, and trans- 

 porting the building materials thither. These are 

 fragments of plants of all kinds within his reach, which 

 he often seeks at a distance and brings homo in his 

 mouth. He arranges them so as to form a kind of 

 carpet-work, but as there is some danger of the current 

 carrying away the light materials, he brings sand to 

 weigh them down and keep them in their places. 

 Then having entwined them with his mouth to his 

 satisfaction, he slides gently over them on his belly, 

 with a vibratory motion of the body, and glues them 

 together with the mucus that exudes through his pores. 

 Having in this manner firmly established the floor of 

 his edifice, he seeks somewhat more solid materials for 

 the walls, sometimes bits of wood, sometimes pieces 

 of straw, which he always seizes with his mouth, and 

 lays either on the surface of the floor or sticks into its 

 sides, withdrawing them and thrusting them in anew 

 until he is satisfied ; or if he cannot adapt a piece 

 properly to his building, he carries it to some distance 

 from the nest and rejects it. After the side walls 

 are raised, the tiny architect proceeds to throw over 

 the chamber a roof of the same materials with the 

 floor; and to give firmness to the whole structure, he 

 again and again creeps over it, and by the rapid action 

 of his fins, and the vibratory movements of his tail, 

 fans out the light and useless particles. In carrying 

 on bis building operations he takes care to preserve 

 a circular opening into the chamber, often thrusting iu 

 his head and great part of his body, widening and con- 

 solidating it so as to render it a fit receptacle for the 

 female, whose belly is distended with eggs. When 

 choosing building material, the fish has been seen 

 trying its specific gravity, by letting it sink once or 



