GASTEROSTEID^. ■ 241 



month, of September half were red on the nnder parts ; while full-grown fishes, 

 in which the most intense shade of this colour prevailed, never appeared to be 

 in spawn, very few in that state being so much as faintly tinged with it. 



Names. — The term stiaJdebacJc appears to be a corruption of the older and far 

 preferable designation of pricklebach, which well denotes the character of this 

 fish. It is known as spricklebag in the north of Ireland, another corruption of 

 the same derivation. The local names are numerous. In the Orkneys, 

 hrandsticlde : Moray Firth, lanstichle and landie : also sharplin in Scotland. In 

 Northumberland hurry-hannings : priahij at Northallerton, Yorkshire (Clarke) : 

 Barce, Yorkshire : Jack-sharp, Bury, also stand, taris or tantiole in Suffolk : 

 stansticTcle and stuttlehdoh in some of the eastern counties : stiolding and Jack- 

 hannell,* Oxfordshire (Beesley) : the male asyirey-foc/i, and the female as enemy- 

 chit, in south Hampshire : hackle, Devonshire : hannis and hanticle, Wilts : pow, 

 Somersetshire. Halliwell adds the following local names but omits the localities, 

 Jack-sharpling, Jack-sharpnails, and tittlebat. It is Thomback in the Shannon, and 

 finkeen in the south of Ireland. Couch gives minnis as a local name, while 

 others have observed that it is occasionally termed minnow, probably due to 

 incompetent observers having mistaken it for the little Leuciscuis phoxinus. 

 L'epinoche, French. De stehalbaars, Dutch. 



Habits. — Small but voracious, active, and very pugnacious, occasionally 

 descending in large shoals to the estuaries or even the sea. It thrives in a fresh 

 water aquarium but does not appear to live so long in saline water. It has been 

 termed the Ephemera of fishes, and Donovan states it rarely lives beyond the third 

 year. " Yarrell says the stickleback lives only about two years : one of mine has 

 been in the aquarium, I think, nearly double that time, and continues an 

 exceedingly tame and amusing pet" (Zool. 1861, p. 7400). Its favourite haunts 

 seem to be small streams, canals, ditches, and ponds, as well as pools along the 

 sea coast which are liable to be covered at high tides. In Yorkshire it is found 

 in Malham Tarn, at a height of 1250 feet above the sea level (Yorkshire Vertebrata). 

 Nilsson observes that it is captured in great numbers in the Baltic in November, 

 and used for obtaining oil from. Donovan remarks upon having known it taken 

 at a great distance out at sea in the sprat and herring fisheries. It feeds on 

 ■worms, larvffi, small Crustacea, fresh water shrimps, in fact almost anything, even 

 the eggs of its own kind, and, as remarked by Rutty, it destroys the spawn of all 

 sorts of fish, and all the young fry that come in its way. Thompson observed 

 of the varieties 0- leiurus and O. brachycentrus, that contrary to what might have 

 been expected the largest were invariably found where the temperature was lowest. 

 He likewise noted that it and the trout do not seem to co-exist in some of the 

 smaller rivers, or do so very partially. In the stream whence the largest of these 

 was taken, trout a dozen years ago were very common, and the stickleback unknown, 

 and it is only since the almost total disappearance of the trout that this fish has 

 been established in its waters. In a similar stream, issuing from the same 

 mountain range at about a mile distant, the trout yet maintain^ its place, and in 

 the part of the river frequented by it I have in vain looked for the stickleback. 

 Baker (Phil. Trans. Roy. Soo.) reports that on the 4th of May one devoured in 

 five hours seventy-four young dace, which were a quarter of an inch long and of 

 the thickness of horsehair. Two days afterwards it swallowed sixty-two, and 

 would probably have eaten as many every day could they have been procured for it. 



The males appear to be always ready for a fight, but before commencing they 

 swim round each other evidently seeking an unguarded place in their opponent, 

 which found, the attacking party dashes in with great rapidity and uses its 

 spines with great effect, even absolutely ripping his opponent open. A writer 

 in the Magazine of Natural History (iii, p. 330) observes that when a few 

 are first turned into a tub of water they s^im about in a shoal, apparently 

 exploring their new habitation. Suddenly one will take possession of a particular 

 comer of the tub, or, as will sometimes happen, of the bottom, and will instantly 

 commence an attack upon his companions, and if anyone ventures to oppose his 



* In WaTwickshire a closely pronounced name is given to the minnow, ieuciscus pfiorimMs. 



16 



