23® TflE STICKLE- BACI& 
Section II. 
Genus XXXIX. e fhe Stickh-lach. 
!»| -i 
X His genus is readily known by the formidable fpines 
which rife from the back of the greater part of fhefifn that 
compofe it. There are eleven fpecies enumerated in the fy- 
ftem of nature, three of which only are inhabitants of our ri- 
vers and fhores ; namely, that with three ; that with ten, and 
that with fifteen fpincs upon the back. The former are feen 
In im'menfe quantities in the fens of Lincalnjhire, and the 
rivers that' flow from them. At Spalding, they appear once 
every feven or eight years, in the Welland , where they 
mount the river in fuch vaft columns, that they are nfed 
in manuring the land. An idea of their numbers may 
be formed, from a circumftance mentioned by Pennant, 
of a man earning four {hillings a-day by taking and fell** 
ing them to the farmer at an halfpenny a buftiel *. The 
caufe of thefe temporary migrations of the {lickle-back, 
is fuppofed to arife from the vaft quantities walked out 
of the fens by the floods, and collefted in fome deep hole, 
till overcharged with numbers, they are obliged periodi- 
cally to attempt a change of habitation. 
The body is oblong, compreffed, and frequently co- 
vered with rough fcales. The fnout is long ; and the 
mouth thick fet with fmall granulated teeth. There is 
one dorfal, and one anal fin ; the pe&oral are fmall, 
fharp pointed, fituated upon the thorax, which is c0 “ 
vered with Jcuta or bony plates. 
Britifli Zoology, Clafs iv. gen. a?. 
3 
