Catalogue of the Fishes of Connecticut. 61 



*27. Gasterosteus quadratus, Mitchill, Four-spined Stickle- 

 back, Stratford. 



28. Gasterosteus millepunctatus, Ayres, Many-spotted Stickle- 

 back, Hartford. 



29. Gasterosteus apeltes, Cuv,, Bloody Stickle-back, Ston- 

 ington. 



*30. Gasterosteus pungitius, Linn., Many-spined Stickle-back, 

 Housatonic. 



Family Scienidoi. 



*31. Leiostomus obliquus, Mitchill, Little Porgee, Branford. 

 *32. Otolithus regalis, Cuv., Weak Fish, Yellow-fin, common, 

 *33. Umbrina nebulosa, Mitchill, King Fish, Stratford. 

 *34. Pogonias chromis, Cuv., Big Drum-Fish, Stratford. 



Family Sparidm. 



*35. Sargus ovis, Mitchill, Sheepshead, Stratford. 

 36. Pagrus argyrops, Linn., Big Porgee, Bridgeport and New- 

 Haven. 



"27. The four-spined stickle-back is not uncommon here, a few specimens of 

 which I have sent to Dr. Storer. 



"30. The ten or many-spined stickle-back I caught in a shrimp net in the Housa- 

 tonic, about 10 miles from its mouth, July 20, 1843. The dorsal rays were 8 — 8. 

 Two might have been lost by accident; none, however, appeared to be missing 

 from the fish, and of course its rays are not always fixed to 10, either spinous or 

 flexuous. Dr, Dekay 's figure of the G. occidentalis, is a good representation of ray 

 fish, and perhaps may be, as he conjectures, distinct from the pungitius. 



*31. The little porgee 1 saw taken in very great numbers from the Sound, in 

 Branford, many years since, in a seine drawn for white fish, (./?. mehaden.) 



*32. The weak-fish are very numerous at the mouth of the Housatonic, in the 

 absence of blue fish, (Temnodon saltator.) These two species of fishes do not 

 agree to appear numerously at the same time, or same year; hence it is inferred, 

 that the voracious blue-fish makes war upon the weak-fish, or yellow-fin. 



*33. I have had a fine specimen of the king-fish, taken here in a seine. If cook- 

 ed and eaten immediately after caught, it is an excellent fish, but will bear no 

 keeping. 



*34. The drumfish abounds here. Sixty-two of enormous size were caught 

 here at one haul of a net this season, (1843.) I measured what was considered a 

 small one, that was three feet seven inches long, and one foot deep. They are 

 salted by fishermen, and accounted by them as valuable. Their various colors have 

 establisiied among fishermen what they call three kinds — the red, the black, and 

 the beardless ; but I imagine we have but one species in Connecticut, although Dr. 

 Mitchill made three. 



*3.5. Many of the sheepshead were caught here in the Housatonic, in 1842, They 

 are, however, considered rare and very valuable for the table. It has an extensive 

 geographical range. I have seen them very large and fine in Georgia and Florida. 

 They usually sell at about seventeen cents per pound, both here and there. 



