58 ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



As food. — It is said to equal Trigla ■pini. 



Habitat. — From the British coast to the Canary Islands, also through the 

 Mediterranean and Adriatic. 



In Britain it appears to have been first observed by Mr. Jago in Cornwall, and 

 is most numerous along the south coast, becoming rarer towards the north, 

 only stragglers having been observed in Scotland, one having been procured 

 near Ayr, and a second in October, 1844, at Glasgow : while on the west coast of 

 England it is said to be locally rare. Mr. Cornish remarked in May, 1866, that 

 he had taken two examples at Penzance, being 29 since 1858 (Zoologist, 1866, 

 p. 311). 



In Ireland, Thompson remarks that a few are taken every year in the county 

 of Down, chiefly at Killough, and one by Ball at Toughal : the most usual time 

 being the last six and first three months in the year. 



It attains to at least 14 inches in length. 



2. Trigla cuculus, Plate XXIII. 



Lyra, Jonston, De Pise. lib. i, tit. iii, c. 1, art. 3, pp. 66, t. xxiv, f . 4. Trigla, 

 Artedi, Gen. 45, syn. 74. Guculus Aldrovandus, Ray, p. 89 ; Rutty, N. H. Co. 

 Dublin, 1772, p. 367. Bed gurnard, Pennant, Brit. Zool. (Ed. 1776) iH, p. 278, 

 pi. 57, (Ed. 1812) iii, p. 373, pi. 66. 



Trigla cuculus, Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 497 and Mus. Ad. Fried, ii, p. 93 ; Shaw, 

 Zool. iv, p. 620, pi. 90 ; Cuv. and Val. iv, p. 26 ; Dekay, N. T. Fauna, p. 43, pi. Ixx, 

 f . 225 ; Bonap. Icones Ital. Pesci, iii, p. 58, c. fig ; Fleming, p. 215 ; Tarrell, Brit. 

 Fish. (Ed. 1) i, p. 34, c. fig, (Ed. 2) i, p. 38, (Ed. 3) ii, p. 10 ; Pamell, Fishes 

 Frith of Forth, p. 14, t. xviii ; Swainson, Pishes, ii, p. 262 ; White, Cat. Brit. 

 Fish. p. 2 ; Steind. Ich. Span. n. Port. 1867, p. 78 ; Mabn, (Efv. Sv. Akad. 1870, 

 p. 825 ; Collett, Norges Fiske, p. 37. 



Trigla pint, Bloch, t. ccclv; Bl. Schn. p. 14 ; Lacep. iii, p. 356 ; Risso, Ich. 

 Nice, p. 206 ; Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 338 ; Johnston, Berwick. Nat. Club, 1838, i, 

 p. 170; Thompson, Nat. Hist. Ireland, iv, p. 71; Swainson, ii, p. 262; Giinther, 

 Catal. ii, p. 199 ; Mcintosh, Fish. St. Andrew's, p. 172. 



Trigla lineata, Montague, Wem. Mem. ii, p. 460 (not Gmel. Linn.) ; Flem. 

 Brit. An. 215. 



Polynemus tridigitatus, Mitchell, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. New York, i, 

 p. 449. 



Pine-leaved gurnard, Shaw, Nat. Misc. xxii, pi. 954. 



Elleck, Couch, Fishes Brit. Isles, ii, p. 19, pi. Ixiv. 



B. vii, D. 8-9/18, P. 10+iu, V. 1/5, A. 16-17, C. 13, L. 1. 73-76, Coec. pyl. 8, 

 Vert. 15/21-22. 



Length of head 4 to 4|, of caudal fin 5\, height of body 6 in the total length. 

 Hye — Ii diameters in the postorbital portion of the head, 1 j diameters from end of 

 snout, and | a diameter apart. Interorbital space concave. Upper profile from 

 eye to snout descends rather abruptly and is slightly concave. The form of the 

 snout appears to be liable to vary, in one male example it is broader and more 

 strongly armed than in any other of my specimens. Bones of the head with 

 stellated ridges. Two or three small spines at the anterior-superior angle of the 

 orbit. Preorbital with short denticulations anteriorly. Opercle with a well- 

 developed spine. Angle of preopercle with a spinate termination below which are 

 two smaller ones. Supra-scapular roughened along its upper edge and 

 ending in a short but sharp spine : coracoid likewise ending in a spiae. The 

 posterior extremity of the maxilla reaches to beneath the front of the eye. 

 Teeth — fine ones present in jaws, and on the vomer, none on the palatine 

 bones or tongue. Fins — second dorsal spine the highest, being more than 

 2/3 the length of the head, the first spine is tuberculated anteriorly. Pectoral 

 alDout as long as the head and reaching to above the third or fourth anal ray.' 

 Caudal emarginate. Scales — small, those on the lateral-line unarmed, but forming 

 lineated plates, very much deeper than wide, occasioning the lateral-line to appear 

 as if crossed by about 72 vertical folds of skin. Ridge along the base of the 

 dorsal fin having about 27 spines. Air-bladder — with two short and rounded 



