OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 51 



place while the fish are projected above the surface of the 

 water, as has been actually recorded by Alexander Stenzel, 

 of Tankow, of the freshwater Continental " Nase " or 

 " Zupe " [Chondrostona nasus). A fine pair, male and female, 

 of gemmeous Dragonets will be found mounted side by 

 side in the spirit series forming the Day Collection. Un- 

 fortunately no method yet attempted has resulted in the 

 successful preservation of the colours as in life of the male. 

 A second more southern form, the Spotted Dragonet 

 {Callionymiis metadata), No. 67, has on one occasion been 

 taken off the British coast. 



FAMILY XIX.— Lumpsuckers (Discoboli). 



Body inflated, transversely expanded or oblong, naked 

 or tuberculated ; teeth minute ; the gill openings narrow ; 

 one or two dorsal fins ; the ventral fins, each with one spine 

 and five rudimentary rays, the pair being so united by 

 membrane as to form a round, strongly adhesive suctorial 

 disc or acetabulum ; branchiostegal rays five or six in 

 number ; air-bladder absent. 



The Lump-fish, Lumpsucker, Sea-Owl, Sea-Hen, or 

 Cock-and-Hen-Paddle, as it is variously named (Cyclopterus 

 lumpus), No. 68, is one of the most grotesque-looking of 

 our British fishes. Its inflated, ungainly body, peculiar 

 semi-transparent consistence, and tubercular armature, con- 

 duce to impress a stranger that he has before him some 

 quaint organism from the waters of China and Japan, in the 

 composition of which, as not infrequently happens, nature 

 has been materially assisted by human intervention. The 

 efficient adhesive organ or sucking disc, modified from the 

 ventral fins developed on the under surface, completes the 

 sum of its peculiarities, and provides the fish with an efficient 



E 2 



