snaky form. The channels between the stones communicate with one another, and the fish seems to have an intuitive and instant perception in what direction the most available way of escape lies; so that we almost despair of securing him. At last, however, he has taken refuge under the edge of a stone which bars up egress. Cautiously we bring both hands to bear, placing one on each side, so as to make a sort of basin; then inserting the fingers under the shelter to probe the retreat, out darts the little hider, but finds himself environed in the hollow of our hands. "Quick! the jar or he'll escape yet!" No! he's all right; safely dropped in; and we hold up the glass vessel, half full of clear water previously provided, and gaze in triumph at our little captive.

An elegant creature it seems as we now behold it, gliding round and round the bottom of its crystal prison; now turning lithely on itself, like a fold of narrow ribbon, now swimming through the clear water with the most elegant undulations, but sinking to the bottom again the instant the undulatory effort ceases, for it is strictly a ground fish, and manifesting in every movement the perfection of agile grace and elegance.

It is, as I said, a fish of a somewhat serpent-like form, or rather, ribbon-shaped, for its height much exceeds its thickness. It is a ribbon set upon its edge, with a fringe above and below, and each prettily marked with regular chequered spots. But I must jot down a more methodical description of him, that you may recognise him again when you fall in with him; and this you will probably do every time you spend an hour stone-turning, at least on this south

western coast.

The length of this specimen is about six inches, and I have seen larger; the height or vertical diameter is about one-third of an inch, and the thickness, at its greatest, which is on a line midway between the back and belly, is about one-eighth of an inch. The body comes to a sharp edge above and below, and is fringed on both edges with a long narrow uniform fin. That on the under side, the anal, as it is technically termed, is found only on the hinder portion, commencing behind the middle; while the dorsal or back fin begins just behind the poll; both emerge into the caudal or tail-fin, with which the body terminates. The pectorals or breast-fins are very small, much like those of the eel, and the ventrals, or belly-fins, are so minute as to be scarcely noticeable, just a pair of tiny points. The head is small, with a smooth descending profile; the mouth very short and feeble ; the eyes moderately full, round, bright, with golden irides.

In colour our little Gunnel is of a warm, yellow brown or olive, mottled with a delicate sort of curdling all over, with some dashes of reddish here and there; a band of deep brown descends perpendicularly down each cheek from the eye; the long dorsal fin is marked at regular intervals with square spots of black, bordered on each side with lines of pure white, adding greatly to its beauty. These descend a little on the fleshy part of the back. adorn the anal, but being only of a slightly deeper shade of brown than the ground colour, they are less conspicuous. Altogether it is a pretty and attractive

creature.

Similar spots

Meanwhile, however, we pursue our searching.

Stone after stone we turn over, discovering many curious and interesting things well worthy of examination and preservation. Our capture of the Gunnel, however, makes us eager for fishes, and we look out for more. Nor in vain. Under a heavy block, which we succeed in overturning only after several slips, there lies a huge, thick-set uncouth object, which makes such a splashing that we cannot distinguish his form at all. We have not much difficulty in securing him, for though he makes a considerable pother, and stirs up not a little cloud of mud from the bottom of the shallow pool, we easily manage to place our hollowed hands round him, and lift him bodily up. Very indignant looks he as we drop him into the glass jar; his eyes goggle unutterable things at us, and his muscular tail and broad caudal fin whisk from side to side with wrathful energy as he flaps to and fro, and round and round, making a tempest almost equal to that renowned one "in a tea-pot," and quite discomfiting the amazed Gunnel, his lithe and graceful cotenant, who is fain to perform undulatory evolutions at the top of the jar, relinquishing the entire bottom to the boisterous intruder.

Its singular palmate and branching horns, remotely resembling those of the fallow-deer, at once show it to belong to the same family as the Gunnel. It is said to be common in Cornwall, where it goes by the name of "Tompot." "Tompot," then, from henceforth, he shall answer to with us; "Tompot" shall be his name. Be quiet, now, Tompot! be still a moment, that we may solace our eyes with your beauty!

Beauty, forsooth! a more hideous "varmint" you will scarcely see, notwithstanding his gay attire and

his jewellery-for he wears both. What a face he has! His head is thin and high, with a profile descending, I will not say perpendicularly, but, indeed, not very far removed from it; a mouth opening with a most repulsively impudent expression; two large prominent, rolling eyes, of which the colour changes notably while you look at them, now being partly dark and partly white, abruptly divided by a transverse line; then the whole rapidly becoming suffused with a dark, purple hue, so that you can scarcely discern any inequality. In the middle of the face, on each side, is a minute fringed process, and above each eye a much more remarkable one, standing up conspicuously, and resembling, as I have said already, a deer's horn. To be more particular, each appendage of this pair is a thin piece of cartilaginous skin, standing erect, and facing diagonally, both edges of which are cut into a number of sharp points, just as one might snip a piece of paper with fine scissors. They are white, irregularly blotched with red. The use of these fine ornaments I do not at all know; I have never seen the least motion in them, nor the slightest attempt to use them made by the numerous individuals that I have kept in my aquarium. The pectorals are unusually ample, and very fleshy; the ventrals are thick, slender, two-rayed, and white, and are set on just under the throat, where they form a remarkable feature as the fish grovels about. There is but a single dorsal, running along nearly the whole length, but it is distinguished into two portions by a difference in the height and structure of the fin-rays. All the fins are fleshy, and indicate muscular strength.

As to colour, our Tompot is a beau. He wears a