=The Sculpins: Cottidæ.=—The great family of _Cottidæ_ or sculpins is one especially characteristic of the northern seas, where a great variety of species is found. These differ in general from the _Scorpænidæ_, from which they are perhaps derived, in the greater number of vertebræ and in the relative feebleness or degeneration of the spinous dorsal, the ventrals, and the scales. In all these regards great variation exists. In the most primitive genus, _Jordania_, the body is well scaled, the spinous dorsal well developed, and the ventral rays I, 5. In _Hemitripterus_ a large number of dorsal spines remains, but the structure in other regards is highly modified. In the most degraded types, _Cottunculus_, _Psychrolutes_, _Gilbertidia_, which are also among the most specialized, there is little trace of spinous dorsal, the scales are wholly lost, and the ventral fin is incomplete. Most of the species of _Cottidæ_ live on the bottom in shallow seas. Some are found in deep water and a few swarm in the rivers. All are arctic or subarctic, none being found to the south of Italy, Virginia, California, and Japan. None are valued as food, being coarse and tough. Scarcely any are found fossil. Of the multitude of genera of _Cottidæ_ we notice a few of the most prominent. _Jordania zonope_, a pretty little fish of Puget Sound, is the most primitive in its characters, being closely allied to the _Hexagrammidæ_. [Illustration: FIG. 381.—_Jordania zonope_ Starks. Puget Sound. ] _Scorpænichthys marmoratus_, the great sculpin, or cabezon, of California reaches a length of 2½ feet. It has the ventral rays I, 5, although almost in all the other sculpins the rays are reduced to I, 3 or I, 4. The flesh has the livid blue color seen in the cultus cod _Ophiodon elongatus_. [Illustration: FIG. 382.—_Astrolytes notospilotus_ (Girard). Puget Sound. ] [Illustration: FIG. 383.—Irish Lord, _Hemilepidotus jordani_ Bean. Unalaska. ] [Illustration: FIG. 384.—_Triglops pingeli_ Kröyer. Chebucto, Canada. ] [Illustration: FIG. 335.—Buffalo Sculpin, _Enophrys bison_ (Girard). Puget Sound. ]