202 ACANTHOPTERYGLT. 



Ich. p. 53, t. xxxi, f. 113 ; Risso, Ich. Nice, p. 125, and Eur. Merid. iii. p. 229 ; 

 Montagu, Wern. Mem. ii, p. 443, pi. xxii, fig. 2 ; Martens, Reise nach Venedig, 

 ii, p. 418 ; Cuv. and Val. xi, p. 220 ; Yarrell, Brit. Fish. (Ed. 1) i, p. 223, c. fig. 

 (Ed. 2), i, p. 253 (Ed. 3) ii, p. 359 ; Forbes, Mag. Nat. Hist. 1836, ix, p. 203 ; 

 Flem. Brit. An. p. 206 ; Jenyns, Man. p. 378 ; Cnv. Reg. Anim. Illus. Poiss. 

 pi. Ixxvii, f. 1 ; Giinther, Catal. iii, p. 222 ; Canestrini, Arch. Zool. Anat. Genova, 

 1862, ii, p. 87, t. ii, f . 2 ; Steind. Ich. Span. u. Port. 1868, p. 7 ; Vinciguerra, 

 Blenn. Genova, Ann. Mus. Civ. Genova, xv, 1880, p. 439 ; Giglioli, Pesc. Ital. 

 p. 31 ; Moreau, Poiss. France, ii, p. 128. 



Blennius papilio (Gmel. Linn.) Gnichen. Explor. Alger. Poiss. p. 70. 



Blennius le}ous, Lacep. ii, p. 461. 



Blennius ocellatus, Swainson, Fishes, ii, p. 273. 



Adonis pavoninus, Gronov. ed. Gray, p. 93. 



Butterfly blenny, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, ii, p. 224, pi. cxii. 



B. vi, D. -H-:!!, P- 12, V. 2, A. 16-18, C. 11, Vert. 11/21-22. 



Length of head 4 to 4|-, of caudal fin 6, height of body 4J to 4f in the 

 total length. Eye near dorsal profile, diameter 4 to 4|- in the length of the 

 head, 1 to 1^- diameters from the end of the snout, and 3/4 of a diameter 

 apart. Interorbital space rather concave from side to side, snout short with 

 the anterior profile very abrupt. A fleshy tentacle, sometimes as long as the 

 eye, and which is fringed along its posterior surface, is situated on the 

 anterior portion of the superciliary ridge : also a short fringed tentacle at the 

 anterior nostril. Teeth a single row in either jaw, consisting of about 36 

 to 40 in the upper, and 34 or 36 in the lower. Posteriorly a strong curved 

 canine in either jaw. Fins the dorsal commences on the nape, the first spine 

 is high in adults, usually equalling or exceeding that of the body below it, from 

 whence ih decreases to the last, which equals about 2 diameters of the orbit in 

 height : in adults the termination of the spine projects some distance beyond the 

 interspinous membrane : rayed portion of the dorsal as high as the body below 

 it, but not equalling that of the spinous part of the fin, it is not continuous 

 with the caudal, which latter is rounded, square, or even slightly emarginate in 

 the young. Seventh to ninth pectoral rays the longest. Anal similar to the 

 second dorsal. Colours gray, with six or seven vertical bands on the body, 

 nai-rower than the ground colour, and which become lighter in the adult. Many 

 irregular reticulations of gray lines over the lower half of the head and the 

 body, on which latter are many dark spots. Dorsal fins of a light gray, with some 

 darker reticulations : a large round black ocellus surrounded by a narrow white 

 ring exists on the first dorsal fin, between the fifth and ninth dorsal spines : 

 soft dorsal with some narrow irregularly oblique dark bands. Pectoral with fine 

 black dots on the upper rays, the lower ones being black externally with a 

 narrow white edging. Anal dark in its outer half. Caudal gray, with some rows 

 of black spots. 



Varieties. The black mark on the first dorsal fin appears to be occasionally 

 absent. 



Names. Butterfly -blenny, from its appearance. La blennie papillon, French. 



Habits. In the Mediterranean Risso observed that it lived among 1 Ah_ra\ 

 feeding upon minute crustaceans, molluscs, and even small fish and sea-weed. It 

 appears to be sometimes taken at considerable depths. 



Breeding. In the spring in the Mediterranean (Risso). 



As food. Its flesh is soft, glutinous, and of little taste. 



Habitat. Occasionally taken along the south-west coast of England, but 

 has been recorded as having been dredged up on a scollop bank in twenty 

 fathoms of water, off Ballough, in the Isle of Man, in June, 1834 (Forbes, Mag. 

 Nat. Hist. 1836, ix, p. 203). 



" This pretty fish was formerly, and until the severe winter some three or four 

 years since, tolerably plentiful in this bay : since then it has totally disappeared. 

 I have the last week, however, obtained two specimens " (W. Thompson, Weymouth, 

 Feb. 22nd, 1857, Zool. p. 5608). Portland (Yarrell). It was first obtained at 



