167 
GASTEROSTEUS. 
The cheeks covered with mailed plates. Back with free spines 
anterior to the dorsal fin. These spines have usuallj' a slight mem- 
branous border on their posterior edge, but do not constitute a nn. 
The belly is strengthened with a stout bone in front, from whence the 
generic name. To this bone, and the apparatus attached to it, are 
fastened the ventral fins, the outer ray of which is a weapon of 
offence. The gill membrane has no more than three rays. 
Linnaeus reckons this genus in his class of thoracic fishes; in which 
the ventral fins are not attached to the thorax, nor behind to the 
pelvis, but to the belly between these parts, and nearly under the 
pectoral fins. 
THREE-SPINED STICKLEBACK. 
BANSTICKLE. MINNIS. SHAKPLING. PEICKLEFISH. 
Fungitms MbeHi, 
(( it 
Gasterosteus aculeatus, 
« ff 
“ i/raclinruSf 
“ gyyyiUUTUS'S&f^lOLTYflCltuSj 
“ leiuruSf 
<( it 
“ hracliyce7itrus, 
“ spimdosus, 
(t » 
it « 
Gasterostee epinochs, 
JoNSTOX; with a very poor figure. 
WiM-ouGHB?; p. 341, tab. x, 14, the 
figure bad. He supposes this fish 
to bo the Cenbrisem of Theophrastus. 
LlNNiEUS AND BlOCH; pi. 53. 
Donovan; pi. 11. 
OuviEE. Kough-tailed Stickleback. 
Odvibr. Half-armed Stickleback. 
Cuvier. Smooth-tailed Stickleback. 
Yareell; Br. E., vol. i, p. 90, 94, 95. 
Yaeeell; Br. E., vol. i, p. 96, ? and 
in Loiiclou’s Mag., vol. iii, p. 521. 
Yaiieell; Br. E., vol. i, p. 97 P 
Jenyns; Manual, p. 348. 
De. Guntuee; Catalogue of Dishes in 
the British Museum, vol. i, p. 2. 
Lacei’ede and Eisso. 
This race of fishes is generally of small size, and on that 
account commonly overlooked or disregarded by the casual 
observer. Yet they occupy an important place in the economy 
