44 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



the eyes : the gill-covers are also armed with four strong spines ; the pectoral fins are larger 

 in proportion than those of C. gobio, and the upper jaw rather exceeds the lower; the lateral 

 lines are furnished with a series of small tubercles directed backwards : colour light, with clus- 

 ters of minute dusky spots. 



« Fins.— D. 6—13; P. 15; V. 5; A. 14. C. 14." (Sabine, I c.) 



8—13; 15; 5; 15. 12 to 14. (Capt. J. C. Ross.) 



[13.] 3. Cottus hexacornis. (Richardson.) Six-homed Bull-head. 



Cottus hexacornis (Six-horned Bullhead), Richards., Frank/. Journ.,^. 726. An. 1823. 



Numerous specimens of this fish were caught in a net set in the mouth of a 

 small river near the Coppermine, and the following description is drawn up from 

 notes written on the spot : — The subsequent calamities which befel that expedition 

 having occasioned the loss of all the specimens, no actual comparison has been 

 made with other species ; but after an inspection of the Cotti brought home by 

 Captain Beechey, and an attentive perusal of the Histoire des Poissons, I am 

 satisfied that it differs from all other described species in the form of the horns, or 

 processes which arm the head, and in other particulars. From the peculiar shape 

 of these horns in our species, it might bear the name of claviger, still more appro- 

 priately than the one so termed by M. Valenciennes. 



The individuals that we caught retained life long after they were drawn from 

 the water, leaping vigorously over the sands, and when touched inflating the head. 

 In this operation the branchiostegous membrane is distended, and the several pieces 

 composing the gill-covers are separated by the extension of the intervening mem- 

 branes. Our Canadian voyageurs were both astonished and alarmed by these fish, 

 and termed them Crapauds de mer, probably from a kind of croak they uttered 

 when first handled 



DESCRIPTION 



Of eight or nine recent specimens taken at the mouth of Tree River, near the Coppermine, lat. 67° 12' North. 



July 23rd, 1821. 



Size. — About seven inches in total length. 



Colour. — Of the upper aspect a clouded admixture of brocoli-brown and olive-green tints : 

 of the belly white. The fins are streaked with bluish-black. Irides tinged with red. 



Form. — Head large and depressed. Eyes large. Six club-shaped, or rather nail-shaped 

 processes stand erect on the top of the head : their summits flattish, minutely cancellated, and 

 scabrous. The smallest pair stand between the nares : the largest over the posterior angles 

 of the orbits ; and the third of intermediate size on the occiput. The mouth is capacious. 



