210 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
tips of which do not project above the tin-membrane; 
the first ray is slightly shorter than the second, which 
is the longest. The second dorsal fin, which begins 
fairly close to, or even just at the end of the first, 
above the beginning of the anal fin, is of almost uni- 
form height, and contains six or seven (sometimes eight) 
simple rays, the first of which is shorter than the next 
three, .which are of equal length and the longest of all 
the rays, but still are overtopped by the fin-membrane. 
The pectoral fins, which are inserted close to the gill- 
openings, are large, rounded at the point and with 
from 15 to 17 (generally 1G) simple rays. The ventral 
fins are situated a little behind the insertion of the 
pectoral, and contain three rays, the first of which is 
a spinous ray closely united to the second, which, like 
the third, is simple and has a soft tip, extending beyond 
the fin-membrane. The innermost (third) ray is the 
longest, and may occupy as much as 3 / 5 of the distance 
from the insertion of the ventral fins to the beginning 
of the anal fin. The latter begins below the beginning 
of the second dorsal fin and ends in front of the per- 
pendicular drawn from the end of that fin. It contains 
from 5 to 7 simple rays. The caudal fin is long, 
rounded at the point and contains only simple rays, the 
number of which, including the supporting rays, varies 
between 12 and 15- 
The upper part of the body is grayish brown. 
Back and sides marked, a.s in the Cotti, with four, large, 
nearly black spots or rather transverse bands, the first 
of which is situated at the hind part of the first dorsal 
fin, the second at the hind part of the second dorsal 
fin, the third at the middle of the peduncle of the tail, 
and the fourth at the base of the caudal fin. Lower 
side of the head and the belly white or whitish yellow, 
generally unbroken to the end of the anal fin, behind 
which point some more or less distinct, grayish brown 
spots are always to be found. Dorsal and pectoral fins, 
like the caudal, light gray, with irregular, dark spots 
and transverse bands. Barbels and anal fin white, as 
Avell as the ventral fins, which are sometimes marked, 
however, with dark spots. Iris bronze, with red streaks 
radiating from the pupil, which is green. 
Liver small and forming two lobes, one of them 
very small and the other comparatively large and 
rounded at the point. (Esophagus very short; stomach 
also short, but broad. Five short and thick pyloric 
“ Vertebratci Fennica , tab. IX. 
b Cf. Malm and Day, 11. cc. 
appendages. The intestinal canal forms two bends. 
The abdominal cavity occupies about a quarter of the 
length of the body, and the vent lies almost at its 
middle. Ovaries large, extending along nearly the 
whole length of the abdominal cavity. Kidneys equal 
in length to the abdominal cavity, and set, as usual, 
under the sides of the spinal column. No trace of an 
air-bladder. 
Nilsson states, as an external sexual difference, 
that in this species, as in most of the Cotti , the male 
is distinguished from the female by a soft papilla be- 
hind the vent, and that the interorbital space is appa- 
rently broader in the male, measuring about half as 
much again as the diameter of the eye and being almost 
flat. The males, however, are so rare that neither 
Kr0Yer or Ekstrom has met with an example, full- 
grown at least, nor during late years has the Royal 
Museum received a single male specimen. 
The geographical range of the Bearded Cottus, 
or as it is commonly called, the Armed Bullhead in 
the north-east of the basin of the Atlantic is fairly 
wide, extending from the White Sea and Iceland at 
least as far as the English Channel; but it seems no- 
where to lie one of the common species. As early as 
1830 the Royal Museum received from Mr. Bull a 
specimen from Hammerfest. In the Baltic the Armed 
Bullhead is rare even off Kiel, according to Mobius 
and Hlincke, but occurs, according to Nilsson, on the 
south coast of Scania, and, according to Mela", has 
strayed as far as the Gulf of Finland. 
‘ 
The Armed Bullhead prefers to make its home on 
a sandy and weedy bottom. During the summer months, 
from April to November, the females are met with in 
water of a moderate depth, but at the approach of 
winter they withdraw into deep water. The males, as 
we have already mentioned, are extremely rare, pro- 
bably because it is only during the spawning-season 
that they live in so shallow water as to be in any 
danger from the nets used in shore-fishing. 
In its habits, as in its appearance, the Armed 
Bullhead closely resembles the Cotti. It hardly ever 
leaves the bottom, where it seeks its food, which con- 
sists chiefly of small crustaceans. The spawning-season 
is in spring, in March 6 and April or the beginning of 
May. We have no information as to the way in which 
the roe is deposited or the development of the fry. 
