SEA SNAIL. 
191 
finds a place in his classification by Artedi, with a generic 
character at this time not to be mistaken. It is plain, however, 
even from his own authority, that although the last-named 
author felt no doubt of the existence of this fish, he had never 
himself examined it, notwithstanding that from the authority of 
Nilsson, we learn the fact of its being met with sometimes 
on the coasts of Sweden. It is indeed, more than most others 
of this family, a fish of the north, for its range extends even 
to the icy regions of Spitzhergen; and it is also found at 
Kamtschatka, although whether in the ocean between these 
districts appears uncertain. On the north of Scotland and 
England it is not rare, and it has been met with even at the 
mouth of the Thames; westward of which it is among the rarest 
of fishes. Yet I have been informed of its occurrence near 
Weymouth; and on the authority of W. P. Cocks, Esq., a single 
example is recorded as having been found under a stone in 
the harbour of Falmouth. Its proper haunts appear to be not 
far from low water mark, where it seeks shelter under stones; 
hut it also advances up into the fresh water of rivers, although 
perhaps never beyond the reach of the tide. Its food is the 
small crustaceous animals it meets with at the bottom, and its 
season of procreation is early in the spring. So oily or muci- 
laginous is the fleshy substance ot this fish, that soon after 
death it melts away on slight exposure to the sun; on which 
account it is that it has received the name of Sea Snail. 
The Sea Snail attains the length of four or five inches. In 
its shape the parts in front of the dorsal fin are round and 
heavy, but towards the tail more compressed and tapering. 
Eyes high on the head and prominent, but not close together. 
The snout blunt and rounded; jaws equal, the teeth only rough, 
upper lip with two short threads or barbs. A process of the 
integument on the gill-cover stretched over the small opening 
of the gills. Skin smooth and soft, without tubercles. Belly 
protuberant; a single dorsal fin, which begins only a little behind 
the head; anal fin also single, and both these fins run back to 
be joined to the tail, but not amalgamated with it. Tail round; 
sucking organ round, on the throat. Pectoral fin wide, upper 
rays longest, but again lengthened near where united to the 
ventrals; and which together encircle the throat. The colour 
is liable to variation: the back and fins of different degrees of 
