FOUND IN THE FRITH OF FORTH. 539 



lance, and a couple of the small fry of the father- 

 lasher. 



Gasterosteus. 



G. aculeatus. Banstickle, or Three-spined Stickle- 

 back, j 

 Common in all clear ditches. Occasionally, af- 

 ter heavy rains, shoals of banstickles are washed 

 down the rivulets into the Frith. Here they seem 

 to thrive wonderfully ; those which I have found 

 in the salt water being about three times larger 

 than those in fresh-water ditches. 



G. Spinachia. Large or Fifteen-spined Stickle- 

 back. 



This is sometimes found in pools, at ebb-tide, 

 in rocky places of the coast. 



G. pungitius. Ten-spined Stickleback. 

 Not so common as the Fifteen-spined. 



Trigla. 



T. Gurnardus. Grey Gurnard ; Crooner, or Croin- 

 ter. 



The crooner is very common here. It derives 

 this appellation from the circumstance of its so 

 forcibly emitting air through its gill-covers, on 

 being taken out of the water, as to produce a stri- 

 dulus noise, like the purring or crooning of a cat. 

 It is known by a variety of other names, as Cap- 

 tain, Hardhead, Goukmey, and Woof, 



