186 ACANTHOPTERTGII. 



Habitat. — In America it has been captured from the Polar regions to Cape 

 Cod : and in Europe it extends from the same high latitudes to Scandinavia, 

 Denmark, Holland, the coasts oi:' Great Britain, and to the Channel and the 

 shores of France (Moreau). Koelreuter recorded it from Smyrna in the 

 Mediterranean, which more recent naturalists consider must have been due to 

 some error. 



In the Orkneys it is found under the stones round the shores of many places 

 (Low), Orkney and Zetland common (W. Baikie), and at the point of Ness, 

 at Stromness, they may be fished up by dozens : it has been dredged by 

 Gwyn JefFeries in the deep sea between the Shetlands and Faroe. Of partial 

 occurrence off Banff (Edward), at Aberdeen (Sim), also at St. Andrew's 

 (Mcintosh), and occasionally in the Firth of Forth, even above Alloa (Parnell). 

 In Berwickshire it is not uncommon (Johnston), and although asserted to be 

 common in Yorkshire (Clark), perhaps the next species is included. It is 

 said not to be common in Norfolk. Couch records it off the mouth of the Thames, 

 while along the south coast it has been taken at Exm.outh, Weymouth, and 

 off Falmouth: said to be common at Plymouth (Reading), also found in Corn- 

 wall where, however, it is rare. At Weston-super-Mare, in Somersetshire, I 

 found it to be common. 



Ireland — In the Ordnance Survey Memoir (p. 14, Notices) said to be taken 

 at Lough Foyle and Larne : Thompson, however, who examined their eight 

 specimens, considered them to be L. Montagui ; he observes the same of 

 McCalla's Roundstone specimen, and doubts if this species exists anjong any of 

 the genus which had been recorded as Irish. 



It attains to at least 6 inches in length. 



2. Liparis Montagui, Plate LVI, fig. 2. 



Oohius, Zool. Dan. iv, p. 16, t. cxxxiv. 



Gyclopterus Montagui, Donovan, Brit. Fish, iii, pi. Ixviii ; Mont. Wern. Mem. 

 i, p. 91, pi. V, f . 1 ; {G. Montacuti) Turton, Brit. Faun. p. 115 ; Pennant, Brit. 

 Zool. (Ed. 1812) iii, p. 183 ; Johnston, Berwick. Nat. Club, 1838, i, p. 175. 



Liparis Montagui, Cuv. Reg. Anim. ; Tarrell, Brit. Pish. (Ed. 1) ii, p. 277, 

 c. fig. (Ed. 2) ii, p. 374 (Ed. 3) ii, p. 352 ; Gaim. Voy. Skand. Poiss. pi. xiii. 

 f. 1 ; Nilss. Skand. Faun. Fisk. p. 239 ; Flem. Brit. An. p. 190 ; Jenyns, Brit. 

 Vert. p. 473 ; Templeton, Mag. N. Hist. 1837 (2), i, p. 412 ; White, Catal. Fish. 

 p. 110 ; Kroyer, Dan. Fis. ii, p. 519 ; Malm. p. 451, t. vii, f. 1 ; W. Thompson, 

 Mag. N. Hist. 1839 (2) iii, p. 686, and Nat. Hist. Ireland, iv, p. 221 ; Giinther, 

 Catal. iii, p. 161; Putman, P. Am. Ass. 1874, p. 335; Mcintosh, Fish. St. 

 Andrew's, p. 175 ; Collett, Norges Fiske, p. 63 ; Wintber, loh. Prod. Dan. 

 1879, p. 20. 



Liparis gohius, Schager. Vet. Akad. Handl. 1838, p. 248. 



Gyclopterus liparoides, Nilss. Prod. Ich. Scand. p. 62. 



? Lepidogaster Gornuhieusis, Thomp. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1835, p. 81. 



Montagu's suclcer, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, ii, p. 193, pi, cvii, fig. 1 and 2. 



Netiuorli, suclcer, Couch, Pish. Brit. Isles, ii, p. 195, pi. cvii, fig. 3. 



B. v-vi, D. 26-30, P. 30, V. 6, A. 24, C. 14, Ccec. pyl. 16, Vert. 10/25. 



Length of head 3| to 4i, of caudal fin 6 to 7, height of body 3i to 3i in 

 the total length. Eye — small, lateral, rather in front of the middle of the 

 length of the head, and 2^ diameters apart. Head large, superiorly somewhat 

 depressed, its greatest width equalling its length : body anteriorly thick, 

 posteriorly much compressed. Snout broad : mouth anterior and wide, the 

 maxilla reaching posteriorly nearly to or quite beneath the front edge of the 

 eye : the upper jaw slightly the longer. Gill-opening, a rather short vertical 

 slit, extending to the upper part of the base of the pectoral fin. Nostrils patent, 

 the posterior nearer the eye than to the upper lip. Teeth — very small, 

 disposed in both jaws in transversely oblique rows : none on vomer, palatine 

 bones, nor on the tongue, which last organ is very thick. I''t»(.s — the dorsal 

 commences above the middle of the pectoral, at first low, it increases in height 



