Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/579

Rh Cottus gobio. Miller's Thumb. C.—In the rivers and broads. Gurney records a Water Rail picked up on the Yare, and a Dabchick on the Wensum, both being choked in attempting to swallow fish of this species.

C. scorpius. Father-lasher. C.—One of our most abundant species in the warmer months. The shrimpers net thousands. They are voracious feeders, and are often found simply stuffed with Shrimps. When held in the hand they distend their gills, producing a curiously faint humming sound; hence the local urchins term them "hummers." Large ones occasionally take a bait. Local, "Hummer," "Hard-head," "Sea-bullhead."

(?)†C. scorpius var. grœnlandicus. Greenland Bullhead. R.R.—[Mr. Southwell considers this to be a variety of C. scorpius. As its colours are so distinctive, and there is to my mind a marked difference in the shape of the head, I am inclined to accept it as a true species. I have obtained several, one of which, in spirits, is preserved in Norwich Museum. A five-inch specimen in Shrimp-net, March 7th, 1895; another, 5½ in., Dec. 19th of same year. My first record, April 24th, 1890.]

* C. bubalis. Bubalis. A.—Although said to be not uncommonly met with in the Wash, it is the veriest straggler here. First specimen met with April 7th, 1891, in a Shrimp-net. Now in Norwich Museum. A second, Aug. 17th, 1895; a 4½-in. specimen taken in a draw-net.

Trigla cuculus. Red Gurnard. F.—Immature specimens are not infrequently taken in Shrimp-nets. In the adult state it is far less common than T. gurnardus.

(?)T. pœciloptera. Little Gurnard. R.—[Recent authorities discard this as a true species; Couch does not. Dr. Lowe (Trans. Norf. and Nor. Nat. Soc. vol. iv. p. 21) gives it a place in his list as follows:—"On May 15th, 1873, while trawling in the Lynn roads with Mr. Ewles, I obtained a single specimen of this rare species; length, 2¾ in." &c. In the summer of 1890 I met with several fish answering Couch's description of the supposed species, and forwarded them to Dr. Günther, who pronounced them as the immature of T. cuculus; and that T. pœciloptera was no true species.]

T. hirundo. Tubfish. R.R.—A much more suitable name is Sapphirine Gurnard, by which some writers distinguish the