SPINED LOAC'II. 
711 
liis avocation barefooted in the summer the fish not 
unfrequently wounds his feet;” and if the spine be 
broken off and left in the wound, it may well cause 
some trouble. But, as Blanchard" has already re- 
marked, these spines cannot serve as any formidable 
weapons of defence, even if they are emplcqed in this 
capacity in case of need. Cederstrom assumes their 
function to be the protection of the eyes, as the fish 
burrows along in the sand or gravel. Perhaps they may 
also be organs of adhesion, like the opercular and inter- 
opercular spines of the Stegophilidce, those small Brazi- 
lian Glanomorphs 6 which usually take refuge in the 
branchial cavity of larger fishes, and retain their posi- 
tion there by means of the said spines, but which also 
try to force their way into other cavities, or to attach 
themselves with the spines to the skin of larger aquatic 
animals or of persons bathing or wading. 
The spawning-season occurs in spring and early 
summer, from April to July; but as yet we know no- 
thing of its course. It is generally stated that the males 
are far rarer than the females; but in a consignment 
of some thirty specimens from the River Skeninge there 
were as many males as females. The former being, 
however, as a rule smaller than females of the same age, 
they probably manage more easily to escape observation. 
The food of the Spined Loach consists principally 
of small crustaceans, Entomostraca ( Lynceidce , according 
to Cederstrom); but the fish also preys on all other mi- 
nute animals that come in its way. According to Ivroyer 
it is “fairly voracious and lives on worms, but also on 
fish-roe, small fry, and other minute aquatic animals.” 
The Spined Loach shows the same propensities in aquaria, 
where it is “interesting by reason of the eagerness with 
which it roots up the bottom in quest of food, casting 
sand and gravel in pellets out of its gill-openings” 
(Benecke). 
The Spined Loach is of little use as human food, 
the flesh being dry and tough; but as bait for Eels, 
Pike, and other predatory fishes it may be employed 
with advantage c . 
In the Malar Provinces the Spined Loach is known 
by several names: tanglake (Tang Burbot), according to 
Artedi; ormfish (Snake-fish), according to Gyllen- 
stjerna (in Nilsson); stenlake (Stone Burbot), according 
to Iverus (in Lilljeborg). In Scania Lilljeborg heard 
it called stenbit (Stone-biter). 
THE LOACH (sw. gronlingen). 
COBITIS BARBATULA. 
Plate XXXI, fig. 5. 
Body rather terete. Head somewhat depressed: its breadth ( thickness ) at the eyes more than 2 / 5 of its length; 
breadth of the interorbital space greater than the longitudinal diameter of the eyes. No preorbital spine below the eyes. 
V. 
E. br. 3; D. 
1 
(3 1. 2)+ 1 (2 1. 1)+ 1 1_ 
5 1.6 ’ ' 111.12’ 
(6) 7 1. 8 
6 1. 7 
; C. *+1 + 16+1+*; Vert. 41 A 
Syn. Cobitis barbatula, Rond., Pise., part. II, p. 204. Cobitis tota 
glabra maculosa, corpore subtereti, Art., Ichthyol. , Gen. Pise., 
p. 2; Syn. Pise., p. 2; Lin., Fn. Suec., ed. I, p. 125. 
Cobitis Barbatula, Lin., Syst. Nat., ed. X, tom. I, p. 303 ; 
Penn., Brit. Zool., vol. Ill (ed. 1776), p. 247. tab. LVIII, 
No. 142; Bl. Naturg. Fish. Deutschl., part. I, p. 224, tab. 
XXXI, fig. 3; Pall., Zoogr. Ross. Asiat., tom. Ill, p. 164; 
Nilss., Prodr. Ichth. Scand., p. 35; Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. 
Poiss., vol. XVIII, p. 14, tab. 520; Kb., Damn. Fisk., vol. 
Ill, p. 539; Nilss., Skand. Fn., Fisk., p. 343; Ivessl., Bull. 
Soc. Natural. Mosc., tom. XXIX, p. 350; Tiiomfs., Nat. 
Hist. Irel., vol. IV, p. 139; Sund., v. Wr., Skand. Fisk., 
ed. 1 , p. 207, tab. 53; Hckl, Kn., Stisswasserf. Oesterr. 
Mon., p. 301; Mgrn, Finl. Fisk. (disp. Helsingf.), p. 36; 
Canestu., Arch. Zool., An at., Fisiol., vol. IV, fasc. I, p. 144; 
Steind. Stzber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math. Naturw. CL, LIII, I 
(1866), p. 203; Blanch., Poiss. cl. eaux douces Fr., p. 280; 
Gthr ( Nemachilus ), Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. VII, p. 354; 
Sundstr., Fn. Sverig. Ryggradsdj., p. 278; Fedders. (6V 
bitis), Naturb. Tidskr. Kbhvn, ser. 3, vol. XII, p. 92; 
Mor., Hist. Nat. Poiss. Fr., tom. Ill, p. 432; Bncke, 
Fisch ., Fischer., Fischz. O., IV. Preuss., p. 145; Mela, 
Vert. Fenn., p. 313, tab. X; Day ( Nemacheilus ), Fish. 
Gt. Brit., Irel., vol. II, p. 203, tab. CXXXYII, fig. 2; 
M6b., Hcke (Cobitis), Fisch. Osts., p. 123; Lillj., Sv., 
Norg. Fisk., vol. Ill, p. 332; Fatio ( Nemachilus ) Fn. 
Vert. Suisse, vol. V, p. 19. 
° Poiss. cl. eaux douces Fr., p. 287. 
1 See Reinhardt, Vid. Meddel. Naturb. For. Kbhvn, 1858, pp. 83 et seqq. LUtken, ibid. 1891, p. 55, note. 
c BLANCHkEE, La peche et les poissons, p. 449. 
d Sometimes 39 (Lilljeborg), 40 (Kroyer), or 42 (Valenciennes). 
90 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
