■nn: little gurnakd. 79 



that the parents must have spawned in January and December. I have 

 obtained the young of similar size in September and October ; hence they 

 must spawn at different seasons, or twice in the year. I send you a young 

 specimen, which I have examined. You Mill find that in the spinous 

 processes of the head and serrations of the dorsal ridges it possesses all 

 the characteristics of the mature fish." 



The Little Gurnard, Tri(/la pcedhptera, Cuv. and Val. 



In the Zool. Proc. for 1837, 1 published the following notice of an Irish 

 specimen of this fish — the first (and hitherto the only) one procured in 

 the British Islands: — ■ 



* " TrigJa ixecUoptera, Cuv. and Val. Little Gurnard. 



Amongst a number of fishes submitted to my examination by Mr. Ball 

 is a gurnard, apparently of this species, which was taken at Youghal, I be- 

 lieve, along with sprats {Chqiea Sprattus), early in the Summer of 1835. 

 Inform it agrees in every character by which the T. pcsciloptera is said to 

 be distinguished (Cuv. and Val. Hist, des Pots., t. iv. p. 447). Judging 

 from its present appearance, I have little doubt that when recent it would 

 in colour also have corresponded. Its length is 2 inches; D. 10 (last ex- 

 tremely short) — 15; P. 10 — 3, free; V.-|-5 ; A. 15; C. 15. 



Second dorsal ray longest ; 25 dorsal spines ; caudal fin, a little forked; 

 lateral line spinous. Thence to D. fin, and to about an equal distance be- 

 low the line, rough with spinous scales (this is not mentioned by Cuv. and 

 Val.) ; lower portion of sides smooth. 



With the T. aspera, Viviana, as described in the last-quoted work, t. 

 iv. p. 77, and which in length is stated like the 'Tri. jjacilopfera to be 

 about 4 inches, the present specimen agrees in many respects, but chiefly 

 difi"ers in the profile being less vertical, in the anterior lobes of the snout, 

 and in the negative character of wanting ' une echancrure transversale et 

 profonde,' behind the posterior orbital spine : nor Avith the highest power 

 of a lens can any of the anterior dorsal spines be distinguished as * den- 

 telee,' nor the first and second rays of the I), fin as serrated, both of which 

 characters are attributed to T. aspera. 



In the course of this examination, specimens of T. CkchIiis, B1., T. 

 lineata, T. Ilirundo, T. Pin/, Bl., and T. Garnardus, were before me. T. 

 Lyra was not available ; but the remarkable development of the anterior 

 lobes of the snout in this species would have rendered its comparison 

 with the specimen under consideration unnecessary. 



The T. padloptcra has previously been obtained only at Dieppe, where 

 it was discovered by M. Valenciennes." 



Mr. Yarrell, in his Hist, of Brit. Fishes, vol. i. p. 49, after referring to 

 the above specimens, says : — 



" M. Valenciennes, at my request, very kindly sent me over a beautiful colour- 

 ed drawinfr of this species, and comparing this representation with the small 

 specimen from Youghal which had been intrusted to me, I am also induced to 

 consider it identical, and have accordingly given this species a place among British 

 Fishes." 



* Since the above was written I have had an opportunity of comparing the 

 Trigla here treated of with two specimens of T. aspera — one 3^, the other 4^, 

 inches long, which are pari ofa collect ion of lislies sent hist year from Corfu to the 

 Belfast Natural History Society, by Robert Tcmpleton, Esq., Royal Art. This 

 comparison served strongly to confirm everything above stated. The T. aspera 

 is admirably described by Cuv. and Val. 



