188 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
iorly continued into strong occipital spines; and the large 
lateral spines, the uppermost preopercular spine being 
especially prominent on account of its size and strength, 
which are sometimes almost monstrously developed, and 
being often furnished with lateral spines in the upper 
margin. Another peculiarity of this group of the genus 
Coitus lies in the armour of the lateral line, which we 
have indeed seen before in Centridermichthys hamatus 
and Triglops Pingelii, but which may here be of a 
strength most nearly approaching to that of the lateral 
plates in a Doras (among exotic Siluroids) or of the 
armour-plates in the Agoni. Our Father-Lasher is a 
dwarf in this respect too, but the Vega Expedition 
brought home from Behring Island 3 a Coitus claviger, 
size of the parts of the body and in their forms. We, 
therefore, here intend to refer the reader to the descrip- 
tion of the Sea Scorpion, and to pay attention only to 
the differences which may be traced between the two 
species. In the Father-Lasher the upper orbital margins 
are more elevated, and the interorbital space, therefore, 
deeper. These margins are also more nearly parallel, 
while in the Sea Scorpion they diverge posteriorly. From 
the raised ridges (on the parietal bones), which run 
from the orbital margin to the occiput and almost to 
a line with the beginning of the first dorsal fin. and 
which end, and often begin as well, in a spine directed 
back, there projects, at their middle point, a third, more 
or less distinct spine, of which there is not a trace in 
a species of this group, which lives on sea-urchins, and 
of which we here give a figure in order to show at the 
same time how the Coitus-type may pass into Cottun- 
culus, starting from this group as well as from the pre- 
ceding, both in form and coloration, while retaining the 
black transverse bands on the light-gray ground colour, 
which otherwise characterize juvenile forms. 
The Father-Lasher never attains so large a size as 
average specimens of the Four-horned Cottus or the Sea 
Scorpion. Among the largest specimens we have found, 
either in the North Sea or the Baltic, the males have been 
at most 150 mm. in length, the females 160 mm. The 
usual length of the body is betiveen 125 and 150 mm. 
Generally speaking, there is a close resemblance between 
this species and the preceding one, both in the relative 
the preceding species. These ridges also approach each 
other slightly at the middle near the occiput and then 
slightly diverge again. From the first and middle spines 
there radiate several rows of fine, bony points or small 
tubercles, which render the sides of the ridges and the 
space between them rough and scabrous to the touch. 
There is also a similar roughness on the posterior part 
of the raised, upper margin of the orbit, on the higher 
parts of the gill-cover, on the larger spines of the gill- 
cover, as far as they are covered by the skin, and on 
the bridge which interiorly surrounds the orbit and is 
posteriorly united to the preoperculum. The uppermost 
preopercular spine is especially remarkable for its length, 
as it generally not only reaches to the point of the 
opercular spine, but even extends beyond it. When the 
Cf. Smitt, Catalogue of the Swedish Department of the Fisheries Exhibition in London 1883, p. 175. 
