TION. 



380 BEARDED LOCHE. Class IV. 



is on that account, in some places, called the 

 Groundling : it is frequent in the stream near 

 Amesbury, in Wiltshire, where the sportsmen, 

 through frolick, swallow it down alive in a glass 

 of white wine. 

 Descrip- The largest we ever heard of was four inches 

 and three quarters in length, but they seldom 

 arrive to that size. The mouth is small, placed 

 beneath, and has no teeth ; on the upper man- 

 dible are six small beards, one at each corner 

 of the mouth, and four at the end of the nose ; 

 the dorsal fin consists of eight rays ; the pecto- 

 ral of eleven ; the ventral of seven ; the anal of 

 six ; the tail is broad, and has sixteen or seven- 

 teen rays; the body is smooth and slippery, 

 and almost of the same thickness : the color of 

 the head, back, and sides, is in some white, in 

 others of a dirty yellow, very elegantly marked 

 with large spots, consisting of numberless mi- 

 nute black specks : the pectoral, dorsal, and 

 caudal fins, are also spotted ; the belly and ven- 

 tral fins of a pure white ; the tail broad, and a 

 little rounded. 



