4216 Dublin Natural History Society. 



streaked with brown and yellow, and with a silvery abdomen ; having its eyes fixed 

 upwards, like the gobies, it settles in the sand watching the approach of its prey. A 

 few specimens of T. draco have been met with in Ventry harbour. Of the same family 

 the striped red mullet (Mullus surmuletus) is of most remarkable beauty in its living 

 state, its scales being of a brilliant red passing into a silvery pink on the belly. In 

 confinement it timidly moves about, waving its barbels to and fro, as organs of touch. 

 It is frequently taken in the herring-nets at the entrance of Ventry harbour, and is 

 probably by no means uncommon there, and when taken from the nets exhibits great 

 brilliancy of colouring. Its scales are easily rubbed from the body, so that those seen 

 in the fish-shops in London, are rarely good specimens, the scales being all detached 

 by the working of the trawl net they are taken in. The basse, or sea perch {Labrax 

 lupus), is plentiful at seasons in Brandon Creek, and like several of our marine fish, 

 thrives well, kept permanently in fresh water. Under the head of the mailed cheeks, 

 or gurnard family, are the several species of bull-heads, such as Cottus scorpius, and 

 C. bubalis, which are most amusing when captured. Some give a slight hissing sound, 

 and make their formidable spines very prominent by the inflation of the head. Nothing 

 can equal the extreme beauty of the Cottus Grcenlandicus, or Greenland bull-heads, 

 fine specimens of which were taken in Dingle harbour — the richest tints of carmine, and 

 deep maroon, with spots and barrings of most vivid brilliancy, characterize these beau- 

 tiful fish in the state of life. The ova, or roe, is different from that of the other species, be- 

 ing of a fine scarlet, and which was remarkable in the species I dissected. The natives of 

 Greenland are fond of this fish, and even eat the roe in a raw state. The pogge, or armed 

 bull-head, is very frequent in the harbours and small inlets of the west coast. The action 

 of this little fish, and the singularly recurved spines of the snout, must render an observa- 

 tion of its habits of interest. Of the sticklebacks, theten-spined and the fifteen-spined fre- 

 quent the harbours, particularly the latter — Gasterosteus spinachia — in great numbers 

 in Dingle harbour. They are taken in the sean, and I have admired their playfulness 

 and extreme beauty when placed in a tub of water. Except in anger or alarm they 

 do not exhibit their spines, which lie closely adpressed to the dorsal ridge, in a 

 sulcated groove. They are interesting in their movements in seeking and attacking 

 their prey amid the tangled masses of Fucus serratus and Confervas, and among which 

 they form their nests and deposit their eggs ; they unshyingly, almost immediately after 

 capture, seize the food offered. Passing over many species and families, which are 

 altogether deep-water fish, the next presents the riband-shaped form— the Taenioidae — 

 in which is the beautiful Cepola rubescens, red-band fish, which assumes the richest 

 carmine to a pale rose-tint. It has frequently been taken on the west coast, aud some- 

 times cast ashore among sea-weeds after a gale of wind. It is met with at low spring 

 tides among the stems of Laminaria and the stronger Fuci. It would form a beautiful 

 object in one of the crystal cisterns, and to observe its sinuously-gliding motions 

 between the stems of sea plants, its eyes large in proportion to its head, directed in 

 pursuit of the soft molluscous animals upon which it preys. Through the kindness of 

 Dr. Farren I obtained a specimen from the south coast. Of the Mugilidae, the 

 mullets are among the most lively and playful of our harbour fish. The gray mullet 

 {Muyil capita), is in great numbers in Ventry harbour, and of large size. Every 

 water seems suited to their growth — salt, blackish, and fresh, and they are easily fed. 

 The atherine or sand-smelt (Atherina prcsbi/ler), is in abundance in Dingle harbour, 

 and frequents sandy inlets in the winter and spring months in great numbers, at which 

 seasons they are in prime state for the tabic. They are in Dingle harbour all through 



