BUTTERFISH. 
237 
whom we know he was indebted for other information as 
regards Cornish natural history. 
This fish is not met with in deep water, and near the shore 
it frequents oozy ground, especially in tidal harbours; where 
it keeps near low-water mark, and is often left concealed under 
a stone, at a few feet or yards from the border of the lowest 
tide. It is a native of northern climates, and is known even 
in Greenland, where it is said to reach a larger size than is 
usual in the British Islands. Nilsson says that it is found on 
the coasts of Finmark and Norway, down to the mouth of 
the Baltic, but not in the more eastward part of that sea, 
where it is probable the water is too fresh to sustain its life. 
It is also a native of all the shores of the British Islands, 
wherever it can find suitable shelter and subsistence; but 
everywhere it may be considered a solitary fish, as it is not 
common to find two or three together. It is said to be found 
also in North America, but it may be doubted whether the 
American fish is not a distinct species, which, however, Mr. 
Yarrell, on comparison of specimens, believed it not to be. Its 
food appears to be for the most part the smaller crustaceous 
animals. 
Nilsson says its spawn is shed in November, but it is 
probable that the season holds through the summer. In the 
first week in June, Mr, Peach, who then resided at Fowey, 
discovered the grains of what there seems to be no room for 
doubting to be the spawn of the Butterfish, attached to the 
under surface of a stone in the harbour of that port, with the 
supposed parent near it; and with a microscope a considerable 
progress was rendered evident in the development of the 
embryo fish, as promising a speedy birth with resemblance to 
the supposed parent. 
An usual size of the Butterfish is five or six inches in 
length, and the general shape is long, compressed, and of 
nearly equal depth from the head to the tail. The head slopes 
gently from the front of the dorsal fin to the mouth, where 
the jaws are equal; gape narrow, and opening obliquely 
downward; teeth regular, and some in the palate; eyes high 
on the head. The body smooth and slippery; vent at about 
half its length, excluding the tail; a slight mark of a lateral 
line. The dorsal fin begins in a line above the border of the 
