Its 
DUSKY SKULPIN. 
SORDID DRAGONET. COMMON SKULPIN. FOX, perhaps 
from the colour it sometimes assumes, as represented in Bloch’s 
unsatisfactory figure. But this fox-like tinge is only seen in 
particular situations. 
CalUonymus db-acunculus, 
CalUonyme dragonneau, 
CalUonymus draounculus, 
« “ 
It “ 
Linn.®us. Cuvier. 
Lacepede. Risso. 
Doxovan, pi. 84. 
Jenyxs; Manual, p. 389. 
Yarrell; Br. Pishes, vol. i, p. 302. 
Guxiiier; Oat. Br. M., vol. iii, p. 139. 
This species, if it he a species, and not merely the female 
or undeveloped male of the fish last mentioned, is perhaps 
more abundant than the Yellow Skulpin, as indeed would 
necessarily be the case if it includes a large portion of the 
two sexes; but this circumstance may also be explained by its 
being more frequently found in sandy bays and shallow water, 
where its presence and motions can be more readily observed. 
It may there be seen at rest on the ground, where, however, 
its mottled colours serve in a great degree to conceal it, although 
not with such certainty as to prevent it from being often the 
prey of the larger and more voracious fishes, to escape from 
which it would appear from an observation of Dr. Ball, in 
Ireland, that it is capable of burying itself in the sand. But 
it is also common in deep water, where we know it chiefly 
from its capture in trawls, or from the stomachs of fishes which 
take their food from the bottom. Its own food is worms, small 
shellfish, and other sorts of molluscous animals. 
We can believe the assertion of Lacepede, that both these 
