4g 
POQGE. 
has talcen it from, the stomach of a haddock caught at five 
miles from land. The time of spawning is said to be in spring. 
They are reported to form an estimable dish; hut the Pogge 
is of too small a size, and perhaps too scarce, to be entitled 
to much regard as food with us. 
It grows to the length of from four to six inches; the general 
form angular, from the rows of tubercles produced by the plates 
with which the body is covered. The head is wide, flattened, 
spreading towards the cheek, and becoming narrower towards 
the snout, which ends in two upright forked spines. The eyes 
moderately large, separate; mouth under the snout, narrow; 
teeth small, numerous; tongue large. The whole head well 
defended, covered with a crust; a strong, blunt spine runs 
backward from behind each eye; two others on the gill-covers; 
obscure twisted spines above, near the angle of the mouth. 
Under the throat numerous slender filaments, and a few also 
under the snout. Behind the head the back rises high and 
wide, and from the first rays of the dorsal fins it slopes to the 
end of the second dorsal; from whence it proceeds more slender 
and even to the origin of the tail. From the top of the head 
run two prominent ridges, which join behind the second dorsal 
fin, and from thence pass less prominently to the tail. On the 
side, opposite the middle of the first dorsal, another ridge begins; 
and below this two stronger ones, close to the pectoral fin. The 
first of these runs to the tail, and the lowermost encompasses 
its side of the belly, to join the corresponding ridge of the 
other side behind the anal fin; from whence it runs to the tail. 
Lateral line bent, the whole formed of strong closely united 
plates, of which there are twenty-nine in the most prominent 
ridge. Dorsal fins two, near each other, and about the middle 
of the body; standing in a depression between the two upper- 
most ridges; the first rays of the first dorsal longest. The anal 
fin ends at about the termination of the second dorsal. Pectorals 
large; ventral fins small and slender; tail round; all the rays 
of fins extending beyond the membrane. The vent far forward 
from the anal fin. The colour varies much — sometimes dusky; 
at others with a ground of pale pink or red, and separate 
bands of brown or dark; with bands also on the pectoral and 
dorsals; the tail bordered with red; filaments under the throat 
white. 
