88 
ACANTHOPTERYGIL 
tains its place, and in the parts of the river frequented by it I have in 
vain looked for the stickleback. 
The figure of G. brachycentrus in the Hist, des Poiss. resembles the 
Irish fish when in spawn, and not its usual appearance. 
In addition to that fish, there is another 3-spined stickleback, brought 
by M. Savigny from the brooks of Tuscany, described as new in the 
Hist, des Poiss. — from its brilliant operculum, it is named G. argyropomus. 
In this and the other characters assigned to it, Irish specimens in my pos- 
session fully accord. It is suggested, indeed, with reference to the cha- 
racters attributed to this and the two other G aster ostei — G. brachycentrus 
and G. tetracanthus — brought by M. Savigny from Tuscany— “ Nous 
allons les indiquer, pour engager les observateurs a s’assurer de leur con- 
stance,” p. 498. In the next page it is, however, remarked of G. brachy- 
centrus , that there is no doubt of its being a true species.* 
Four-spined Stickleback, G. spinulosus, Yarr. and Jenyns. 
Among specimens of Gasterostei kindly procured for me at La Bergerie, 
near Portarlington, Queen’s County, by the Rev. B. J. Clarke, is an indi- 
vidual with four spines. It is 1^ inch long; the first and second spines 
are of ordinary length ; the third spine is short, but exceeding the fourth. 
In no other character than that of having four spines does this fish differ 
from the 3-spined examples taken with it, and consequently I cannot 
look upon it otherwise than merely an accidental variety of G. aculeatus, 
Linn. It was among a parcel consisting of G. leiurus, G. brachycentrus, 
and G. Pungitius, taken in a pond and in some neighbouring drains. The 
“ ascending plate from the base of the ventrals ” (see Jenyns’s Manual, p. 
350) I find subject to variety of form like other parts. 
That the fish under consideration is the G. spinulosus seems to me not 
to admit of doubt, j* 
This stickleback is very bold and voracious, and will attack any living 
object it can master : in illustration of this, I may mention that, in 
August, 1844, a small party of these fishes were observed near Belfast, 
in the act of killing a horse-leech, the head of which they immediately 
devoured. 
In Nov., 1851, a specimen of the 3-spined stickleback was taken from the 
stomach of a Redbreasted Merganser ( Mergus serrator ) shot in Belfast Bay. 
At the end of May, and during June, I have remarked the spawn just 
ready for exclusion, in examples taken about Belfast. 
The following is an extract from a letter, dated at Innistioge, 13th 
Aug., ’46, which I received from Professor Allman: — 
“ I have been looking a little to the sticklebacks which I happened to 
meet with in my rambles, and find that throughout a great part of Tip- 
perary, Queen’s Co., and Kilkenny, the Gast. leiurus is the predominant 
species. I have not once found G. tracliurus nor semiarmatus. • I have 
* The different varieties of the 3-spined stickleback are commonly known in 
the North of Ireland by the name of spricklebag, evidently a corruption of the 
proper term ; Pinkeen is applied to them in the South; and from the Shannon 
they have been sent to me under the name of Thornback. 
f “ Since the above was written, I have been gratified to find that my friend 
Dr. Johnston, in a List of the Fishes of Berwickshire, exclusive of the ‘ Sai- 
nt ones,’ considers the G. spinulosus a variety only of the 3-spined species — of 
these he notices the ‘ Rough-tailed, Half-armed, and Smooth-tailed Sticklebacks’ 
of Yarrell, as varieties only of one species. (See Report of the Berwickshire 
Naturalists’ Club for 1838, p. 171.)” 
