COT 
character, (tripes on the top, and two fpines on eacli fide 
of the head : there are eight rays in the membrane of 
the gills, eight in the firft dorfal, eleven in the fecond, 
(Ganelin marks them thus, as if there were three, Jj, -f, 
nineteen in the pectoral, fix in the ventral, iour- 
teen in the anal, and fifteen in the tail. This fpecies 
lies in wait in the fand watching for prey, whence the 
name infidiator. Its country is Arabia, where it was ob- 
ferved by Forikael ; it grows two feet long; there are 
raifed ftrite on the head ; the colour is grey above, white 
underneath; the tail is white, with a yellow indented 
fpot, and two irregular oblique black (tripes ; and there 
are brown (pots and dots (trewed about the back. 
10. Cottus Madagafcarienfis, the Madagafcar bull¬ 
head ; fpecific character, a broad longitudinal furrow 
between the eyes continued on between the gill-coverts, 
and two recurved fpines on each fide the head : there 
are eight fpiny rays in the firft dorfal fin, thirteen articu¬ 
lated ones in the fecond, twelve in each peiStoral, and five 
or fix in the ventrals. This'fpecies is deferibed by Ce- 
pede from a Ihort memorandum in Commerfon’s manu- 
feripts, which contain alfo very correft upper and under 
views of it: that gentleman obferved it at fort Dauphin, 
Madagafcar. It grows more than a foot long; the head 
is helmeted, and flatted above and below : the feales on 
the body are pretty large ; the muzzle rounded, and the 
lower jaw the long’eft : the eyes are on the top of the 
head, and very clofe together : the gill-coverts are prick¬ 
ly : the firfi dorfal fin is of a triangular fhape; the tail- 
fin is rounded, but doubly grooved or dove-tailed, or di¬ 
vided into three lobes, which is a very uncommon (hape 
in fiflies not domeflricated. 
11. Cottus niger, the black bullhead; fpecific cha¬ 
racter, colour black, feales rough, one fpine on each fide 
the head. This fpecies is al!o from Commerfon. In 
fize and appearance it refembles the black goby ; length 
feven inches : the general colour is black, or dark brown; 
the fecond dorfal, anal, and tail, fins, are very black at 
their edges, or dotted with black ; on the firfi dorfal are 
forne (hades of green, and two longitudinal blackifh 
firipes : the eye is black or blackifh alfo : the head is 
large, broader backwards than in front ; and appears 
fwelled, from the lize and fhape of the mufcles of the 
cheeks above the gills : the fnout is rounded ; the mouth 
very large; the lower jaw the longed; both filled with 
fhort teeth, clofe let; two bones befet with fimilar teeth 
appear at the entrance of the throat; but the palate is 
quite fmooth : the. feales both of the body and tail are 
very rough. 
12. Cottus Maffilienfis, the Marfeilles bullhead ; fpe¬ 
cific character, the dorfal fins united, the head prickly : 
twelve unarticulated and ten articulated rays in the dor¬ 
fal fin, feventeen in each pectoral, one unarticulated and 
five articulated rays in each ventral fin, nine rays (three 
unarticulated) in the anal, and twelve in the tail. This 
is found in the Mediterranean about Marfeilles. It re¬ 
fembles the cottus fcorpius, but is diftinguilhed by a fur¬ 
row between the eyes ; the head is armed with a great 
number of fpines. As there appears to be but one dorfal 
fin, Cepede lias placed it among the fcorpena. 
13. Cottus gobio, the river bullhead, or miller’s 
thumb. Two hooked prickles at each gill-covert, near 
the cheeks, is the fpecific character of this fifli. One of 
the prickles is large, and turns its point towards the 
mouth ; the other (mail, with its point directed towards 
the body ; this laft prickle has been difregarded by mod 
ichthyologifts; but may be eafily difeovered by palling 
the finger along the head. There are four rays to the 
membrane of the gills, fourteen in the pebtoral fin, four 
in the ventral, twelve in the anal, ten in the tail, feven 
in the firfi dorfal, and feventeen in the fecond : the head 
is flattened below, narrower behind than before, and 
forms an angle on each fide : the jaws are of equal 
length, and armed with feveral rows of little fiiarp teeth, 
VoL. V. No. 371. 
t u s. m 
as are alfo the palate and throat: the tongue is loofe 
and fmooth ; the membrane of the gills broad and jut¬ 
ting out: the nofirils are near the eyes, but can hardly 
be diftinguifhed : the eyes are in the middle of the head, 
finall, with a black pupil and yellow iris: the opercu¬ 
lum of the gills is a (ingle plate, ending in an acute an¬ 
gle : the body grows narrower towards the tail; it is 
fomew'hat comprefled, and covered with a vifeous gluey 
matter; there are little round warty tubercles all over 
the body. This fifli is brown at the head, back, and (ides, 
abo.ve the lateral line; and on all thefe parts are black 
fpots of an irregular figure ; below the line it is white, 
with the fame kind of fpots: the belly is broad, of a 
grey colour, fpotted with brown, in the males ; in the 
females all white : the females are alfo diftinguiilied by 
the colour of tiie ventral fins, which is yellow, fpotted 
with brown, and by a reddifti border to the fecond dor¬ 
fal fin ; whereas in the males, all the fins are bluifli fpot¬ 
ted with black : the rays of the petforal and tail-fins are 
branched ; all the refi (ingle ; the ventral fins are long ; 
the tail Ihort and round. Thefe moftly haunt rivulets 
which rife from a clear fpring, and with a flinty or fandy 
bottom : it is found in England, France, Saxony, Silefia, 
Aufiria, and other parts of Germany; in Denmark, Green¬ 
land, and Siberia; and in the northern parts of Afia. The 
bullhead grows about four or five inches long. They 
move very fwiftly, darting from place to place like an 
arrow. Frefti-water infects are its food, the pulex aqua- 
tilis being frequently found in its ftomach ; but it de¬ 
vours alfo the fpawn and ova of other fifli ; and Gefner 
fays it does not (pare even its own fpecies : on the other 
hand, it lias formidable enemies in the perch, falmon, 
trout, and pike. They fpawn in March and April. “ It 
does not feem likely, (fays Bloch,) though alferted by 
Linnaeus, that the female fits on her eggs in nefts made 
on purpofe, and will not quit them even at the peril of 
her life; nor, what Marfigli fays, that (lie fits a whole 
month on her eggs.” They haunt generally the hollows 
formed by the water under large (tones; fo that they are 
often found, though accidentally, in the places where 
they have caft their fpawn. See farther on this fubject, 
Cepede’s Hift. des Poilfons, tom. iii. p. 254-256. They 
are taken in little nets, and with a line ; they are caught 
by the hand in the night when blinded by the moon-fhir.e 
or a torch. They are well-tafied and very wholefome ; 
the flefh becomes red in boiling. The fiomach of the 
bullhead is broad, confifling of a thin (kin and four ap¬ 
pendices. The intefiinal canal has but one finuofity. 
The feed-veflel and ovary are double. The peritonaeum 
is black ; the liver large, (ingle, and yellow. There are 
ten ribs on each fide ; and thirty-one vertebra; in the 
fpine of the back. 
14. Cottus coris, the helmeted bullhead ; head rifes 
into a lump over the eyes, and is completely inclofed in 
a helmet or cafe ; the firfi: ray of the dorfal fin much 
longer than the reft : there are tvventy-qne rays in the 
dorfal fin, eleven in each pedloral, feven in each ventral, 
fourteen in tire anal, and ten in the tail. This and the 
following are fiflies newly deferibed from Commerfon’s 
manuferipts by Cepede, who makes them a feparate ge¬ 
nus, coris, ( Ko^vtpY,, the top, head, See.) from the fize of 
the head and the cafe which inclofes it; this is of a fcaly 
or cantellated fubftance ; it includes every part, and forms 
the gill-coverts alfo ; directly behind the head com¬ 
mences the dorfal fin ; and, its firft ray being very long, 
it feems to rife like a tuft to ornament this head or hel¬ 
met; hence Cepede calls it aigrette, or crefted'fifli. The 
upper lip is double ; the lower jaw the longeft ; in each 
there is a row of ftrong, (harp, triangular, hooked teeth ; 
the lateral line follow's nearly the bending of the back ; 
the dorfal fin is very long, very (hallow, but nearly the 
fame height ail along : the firft ray of the peftoral fin is 
twfice as long as the reft ; the anal fin is fliorter than the 
dorfal, but its rays are longer, which makes the fin 
3 Z broader. 
