cottimj. 45 



Second Group — Cotto-Scombriformes. 



Dorsal fins placed close together or continuous, having fewer spines than rays: 

 or the spinous portion may be modified into tentacles, detached spines, or a 

 suctorial disk : anal similar to the soft dorsal, sometimes both fins are posteriorly 

 modified into finlets : ventrals, when present, jugular or thoracic, never forming 

 a sucker. No prominent anal papilla. 



Family, V— COTTID^. 



Branchiostegals from five to seven : pseudobranchise present. Body oblong or 

 subcylindrical. Eyes lateral or directed upwards. Cleft of mouth lateral, some- 

 times extending on to the sides of the snout. Some of the bones of the head 

 armed : suborbital ring articulated with the preopercle. Teeth in villiform bands. 

 One or two dorsal fins, the spinous portion of which is less developed than the 

 soft portion or than the anal : ventrals thoracic. Body scaled, scaleless, or with 

 a few plates. Air-bladder present or absent. Pyloric appendages, when present, 

 few or in moderate numbers. 



Geographical distribution. — Cosmopolitan, and found in fresh or saline waters. 



Genus I. — Cottus. 



Phobetor, Kroyer. Boreocottus, Porocottus and Ceratocottus, Gill. Aspicottus, 

 Acanthocottus, Leiocottus, Uranidea, Tauridea, Potamocottus and Triglopsis, Girard. 

 Ptyonotus, Giinther. Elaphocottus, Sauvage. 



Branchiostegals six : pseudobranchice present. Body subcylindrical anteriorly, 

 compressed posteriorly. Head broad, depressed and rounded in front. Angle of 

 preopercle with a single spine (having an antler-like process in some exotic species). 

 Villiform teeth in the jaws, usually (but not invariably) present on the vomer, absent 

 from the palatine bones. Two dorsal fins : pectorals rounded, some or all the rays 

 unbranched. Ventrals thoracic. Head and body covered with a soft shin. Lateral- 

 line present. Air-bladder absent. Pyloric appendages in moderate numbers. 



Habits. — These fishes, whether inhabiting the fresh or the salt waters, conceal 

 themselves under stones or among weeds. They are ground feeders, living on 

 small Crustacea or any animal substance, including fish-eggs. Some of the marine 

 forms appear to keep close to the lowest ebb of the tide. When captured they 

 distend their heads, causing the spines with which they are armed to protrude. 

 They live some time after their removal from the water. The largest variety 

 (C. Grcenlandicus) is reputed to attain to 6 feet in length, pursues its prey with 

 rapidity, killing blennies, herrings, codfish, and even salmon. Dufosse, 1872, 

 p. 300, has mentioned the sounds emitted by G. scorpius and G. bubalis. 



Mil n.s of capture. — They readily take a bait or are captured with small nets. 

 Marine forms are frequently taken in crab-pots. The Greenland variety is said 

 to be fished for in that country with long lines baited with a white bone, glass 

 bead, or a piece of red rag. Aristotle alludes to the occurrence of little fish in 

 certain rivers where they are found under stones, they are termed by some people 

 Gotti. Owing to their lying under stones persons catch them by striking these 

 stones with pieces of rock, when the fish, being stunned, fall out. 



As fond.— Those obtained in Great Britain are considered too small to be 

 worth cooking, but the larger forms are of economic value in Greenland, where we 

 are informed the bull-heads are used for making soup, but the more artistic cooks 

 of France reject them for this purpose. 



Varieties. — The number of fin rays, the proportion which arc divided at their 



