Animal Life by the Sea-shore. 



are zealously "watched over by the devoted father, ever ready 

 to defend the nest and to prevent the young from escaping 

 while still too feeble to shift for themselves. The eggs of this 

 Stickleback are, in proportion to the adult, the largest produced 



I /! 



FIG. 3. — STICKLEBACKS, THREE-SPINED AND FIFTEEN-SPINED. 



by any of our bony fishes, measuring nearl^r one-eighth of an 

 inch in diameter. The smaller Three-spined Stickleback 

 (G. aciileahis), so common in many of our ponds and streams 

 (Fig. 3), is also occasionally found in the sea, near estuaries, and 

 in brackish lagoons ; it is a noteworthy fact that this Uvely and 

 pugnacious little fish can be transferred suddenly from fresh 

 to salt water without appearing in the least inconvenienced. 



The Bull-head, Sea-scorpion, or Fatherlasher [Cottiis scorpiiis) 

 is a near relative of our fresh-water MiUer's thumb (C. gohio), 

 but grows to a much larger size, females up to nine inches 

 (Fig. 4). A second species occurs on our coasts (C. biihalis), 

 distinguished by the presence of a series of small spinose scales 

 along the side of the body. The male of the Bull-heads, charac- 

 terised by a long anal papilla, measures only five inches. These 

 fishes, of unprepossessing appearance, are usually found on beds 

 of zostera (sea-grass) or ulva (sea-lettuce), sometimes in rock- 

 pools. The red or orange eggs are attached to the lower surface 

 of stones among the weeds, rarely to the weeds themselves, 

 and form a lump varying in size from that of a pigeon's egg 

 to that of a man's fist. The bold and irascible male remains 

 in the neighbourhood of the eggs, ready to defend them against 

 intruders. The Pogge or Armed Bull-head {Agonus catapliractus) 

 is easily distinguished from the above by its bony cuirass. 



