nostrils are single, and lie midway between the mouth and eyes. The eyes have a black pupil, and a white iris with blue and black rays. The gilt covert terminates in a sharp angle, and is furnished with very minute scales; the aperture is wide, and the bronchial membrane is in great part naked. The scales on the body are small, and lie one over the other like tiles on a house. The lateral line consists of little risings and white points. The rays of the pectoral fins are simple, and the membrane has a violet ground with white dots. These large fins probably enable the fish to dart out of the water when pursued by an enemy. The first twelve rays of the dorsal fin are spiny, spotted brown and yellow; united below by a dark brown membrane, and at liberty above; the last twelve rays, as well as those of the anal and tail fins, are divided at the ends, and spotted black and yellow. The ventral fins are violet, with white dots; The first ray is hard. The skin is like parchment.

This variegated fish is found in the rivers at Amboyna and Japan; but even there it is uncommon. It is known also at Tranquebar. The flesh is white, firm, and well tasted, like our perch, but the fish does not grow so large. It is of the voracious kind, feeding on the young of other species; entire fishes of two inches and a half long have been found in the stomach.

THE SEA SCORPION.

THIS animal, which belongs to the Bull-head genus, bears also the name of Father Lasher. It is about eight or nine inches in length; and its nose, the top of its head, and its back fins, are armed with strong sharp spines. In the Newfoundland seas it is extremely common, and in Greenland it forms a principal article of food. Our Miller's Thumb, or River Bull-head, is of the same genus.

THE Lanceolated Holocenter has a large head, with a mouth in proportion; the bones of the lips are broad; the jaws are of equal length, and armed with several rows of little sharp teeth; as is the palate; but the tongue is smooth and moveable. The nostrils are double, the hinder pair near the eyes. Hereabout begin the scales, which are small, tender, and smooth. The pupil of the eye is black, the iris blue. The front operculum is made of two small rounded plates, of which the hinder one is strongly serrated. The gills have a wide aperture, and one half of the membrane is concealed. The body is broad, the belly prominent, and the anus in the middle of the body. The colour of the fish is silvery with transverse stripes and spots of brown. The soft rays of the fins are mostly divided into four branches. This species is produced in the East Indies, and takes its name from the shape of the fins. In the Indian ocean, and on the coasts of Africa and America there are found several other varieties of the Holocenter which are remarkable for the brightness of their colours. The structure of their mouths proves them to be carnivorous. They mostly prey on crabs and young fish, which they swallow whole. Their flesh is much esteemed by the natives, it being pleasant and wholesome food.

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THIS fish, which takes its name from its being armed with spines, varies in dimensions from the size of a football to that of a bushel. When it is enraged it can blow up its body as round as a bladder, by means of a sort of air bag in its interior. In addition to the spines, which are longer on the sides than on the back and belly, some species have a sort of bony covering on the head. The head is small; the eyes are large, with a black pupil and yellow iris; and the nostrils are near the eyes. The aperture of the gills is crescent-shaped, and close to the pectoral fin. The back is of a bluish colour, the sides and belly are white. The fins are all short, with black spots and branched rays; and the body is covered with light and dark brown spots.

This species is found not only in America, but in the Red Sea, and near the shores of Japan. At New York, where it appears only in the summer months, it goes by the name of goad-fish; and the natives catch them merely for amusement. They throw in a line baited with the tail of a sea-crab; the fish approaches, but, being afraid of the line, he makes seve ral turns and trials round the bait, and at length nibbles at it, but pretends to reject it, and passes by, striking it with his tail, as if he did not regard it.

But if the rod be kept steady, he presently turns back, seizes the bait, and swallows hook and all. When he finds himself taken, he becomes enraged, bristles up his spines, swells out his belly, and endeavours to wound every thing that is near him. Finding this of no avail, he resorts to cunning, and seems to submit: he lowers his spines, contracts his body, and lies like a wet glove. But this artifice not succeeding, and perceiving the fisherman dragging him towards the land, he renews his defensive attitude with redoubled fury. His spines are now vigorously erected, his form rounded, and his body so completely armed at all points, that it is impossible to take it by the hand; he is therefore dragged to some distance, where he struggles and quickly dies. Much cannot be said in favour of an amusement which is pursued for the sole purpose of contemplating the dying struggles of an unoffending creature.

THE head of this fish is small, and the lower jaw protrudes beyond the upper, both of which are furnished with very small teeth like a file; in the middle there is a small cartilage, which serves instead of a tongue;

the lips and indeed many other parts of the body, send out barbles. The body is laterally compressed, and beset with crooked spines. The head and back are broad in front, but go tapering towards the tail; the belly is thick and swelling out. From the upper lip shoots out an elastic barble, at the end of which are two long fleshy substances which seem as if formed for holding prey; behind this barble is another and stronger fleshy ray, and between that and the dorsal fin another still thicker; both are fastened to the back by a skin; these instruments help this clumsy slow-swimming animal in catching its prey. The nostrils are near the mouth, and the eyes are round: they have a black pupil, and the iris is yellow striped with brown.

This fish is yellow on the sides and back, brown on the belly. The body and fins are varied with stripes and spots of brown colour, and of different shapes; the stripes are broad in some subjects, in others only strokes; some have white spots, others brown edged with white. The pectoral and ventral fins give this animal the look of a quadruped, but the other fins show it to be a fish. It has no lateral line, any more than the rest of the genus. The skin on the belly is thin, and only fastened to the flesh here and there by little bandages.

This fish is found in Brazil and China; it generally keeps at the bottom of the water among sea weed, or between stones.

The names of the Angler, and the Fishing Frog, are also given to this fish. The fishermen have a great regard for this uncouth looking creature, because it is an enemy of the dog-fish, and, therefore, whenever they chance to take it, they always set it at liberty.