The Hifiory 0/* ANIMALS, .281 
fun pie, and is affixed to the back-bone ; and in the lower part of the body there is alfo 
affixed to the fpine an oblong, red body, which unquefiionably does the office of the 
kidnies. 
This fpecies grows to about'an inch and a half in length, and is very frequent with 
us in (hallow waters, little brooks, rivulets, and ponds, and alfo in the fea, among 
the hones that lie about the ffiores. Though the vulgar confound this fpecies with the 
common one, the generality of authors, who have written on thefe fubjedts, have dif- 
tinpuiffied it. Rondelet and Gefner defcribe it under the name of Pifciculi aculeati 
alterum genus 5 Ray and Willughby call it Pifciculus aculeatus minor j Aldrovand and 
Jonfton, Alterum genus Pugnitii 5 Bellonius, Spinarella pufilla; Schoneveldt, Acu¬ 
leatus minor laevis et glaber 5 and we, the leffer Stittle-back, Banftickle, or Sharpling. 
Gaft erofieus aculeis in dorfto quindecim. QjtC&t ftE 
The G after ofteus , with fifteen prickles on the hack . JlpfltttiTfeHCft* 
This is greatly larger than either of the other fpecies; it grows to fix or feven 
inches in length, and is moderately thick, in proportion: the head is oblong, narrow, 
and Somewhat compreffed ; the eyes are large, and their iris is of alii very grey 5 the pu¬ 
pil is round, and of a greenifh-black j the nofirils have each only a fingle aperture, and 
are placed at nearly a middle difiance between the eyes and the rofirum: the back and 
fides are of a deep brown, with a tinge of olive : the lower parts of the fides and the 
belly are of a filvery white; the lateral line is large, and the whole body is of a fi¬ 
gure approaching to fquare: the back fin is long, and has fifteen prickly rays; the 
ventral fins confift only of two rays each, one of them very large, and prickly; the 
other final! and inconsiderable: the bread: and belly are covered with large, oblong 
bones, and the fides are fupported in the fame manner. 
This fpecies is frequent in the Northern Seas; we have it on our own coafts, but 
not fo frequent as it is in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. It is a very nimble and 
lively fiffi, and the fpines about it feldom fail to wound thofe who take it up, though 
that be done ever fo carefully. It is extreamly voracious, and ufually is found behind 
a fione near the Shore, or under the covert of a tuft of the fucus or common fea- 
wreck, watching for whatever comes by that is fmaller than itfelf. The writers on 
fifhes have moft of them defcribed it. Schoneveldt calls it Aculeatus five Pugnitius 
marinus longusj Willughby and Ray give it the fame name. The Germans call it 
Steinbicker and Erfskraper j and our people in Yorkshire, the fea Stittle-back and 
great Stittle-back. 
FISHES. 
Clafs the Third ,. 
BRANCHIOSTEGI. 
A 
Fifhes which have the tail placed perpendicularly , the rays of the Jins 
bony , and the branchiae deftitute of thofe offtcles which defend them in 
the fifh of the two former claffes. 
B A L I S T E S. 
F' j~^ H E Baliftes has only one belly fin, which is Simple, aculeated, and is Situated 
perpendicularly and longitudinally, exadtly in the fame manner as the pinna ani: 
on the back there are two, three, four, or more, robuft fpines: the jaws are furnifhed 
with very large teeth, which are placed contiguous to each other, and are protended 
forwards, and have much the appearance of thofe of the human mouth ; and in other 
fpecies of thofe of the hog : the body and the head are compreSTed and broad : there 
is no branchioftege membrane, as in the former clafies of the acanthopterygious fiShes. 
Baliftes 
