GOBIID^E. 159 



Branchiostegals five :* pseudobranchice present. Gill-openings of moderate width. 

 Body low and elongated. Opercles unarmed. Simple teeth in one or more rows in 

 the upper, and two or more in the lower jaw : canines sometimes present. Anterior 

 portion of the dorsal fin with from five to six flexible spines, the soft portion of the fin 

 being more developed than the spinous, and of the same character as the anal : 

 ventrals united, forming a disc attached only by its base, each fin consisting of one 

 spine and three or four rays. Caudal rounded or wedge-shaped. Scales present, and 

 either cycloid or ctenoid. Lateral-line absent. Air-bladder, if present, mostly small. 

 Pyloric appendages as a ride absent. 



Naturalists have described gobies as being very tenacious of life, a conclusion 

 not in accordance with my experience. E. J. S. observes of some kept in an 

 aquarium, that after he had had them some little time they began to breed, and 

 attached their eggs to the side of the glass, in the same kind of way in which 

 a caterpillar affixes its eggs to a leaf. These the male goby at once set to guard, 

 and it was very amusing to watch how fiercely he would attack any creature 

 coming near, puffing his cheeks out in a curious manner. He constantly attached 

 himself by his ventral fins close to the eggs or kept swimming near them. 

 Unfortunately none were hatched (Hardwicke, Science Gossip, 1865, p. 42). Mr. 

 A. Walker, of Chester, has kindly sent me the following interesting information. 

 " There is one species (? G. Buthensparri) that is common in the shallow gutters 

 of the Dee, whose habits are worth noting. It lays its eggs in the inside of an 

 empty valve of Mya arenaria, one end of which it then contrives to bury in the 

 sand, leaving the other end (in which the eggs are laid) sticking up. The goby 

 then places herself inside, with her head looking out, and thus keeps guard over her 

 eggs and protects them from the Crustacea, such as shrimps and Eurydice pulchra 

 (a small but voracious Isopod, extremely common in the Dee). If the shell is 

 turned over and the fish driven away, these Crustacea attack the ova at once, but 

 as soon as the parent is permitted, she returns, drives them away, and by burrow- 

 ing with her head under one end of the shell, soon gets it into its place again " 

 (MSS. March 2nd, 1881). It has been frequently asserted that gobies construct 

 nests wherein to deposit their eggs, and some of these statements have arisen after 

 seeing how the stickleback behaves : Dr. Ninni (Alti Soc. Pad. i, 1872, pp. 92-96), 

 gives a list of twelve species of fishes which breed in the Lagunes of Venice, and 

 observes that four species of gobies and the stickleback build nests. 



The fishes comprising this genus have the form of the body variously modified, 

 some being much deeper than others. Occasionally the head is scaleless and the 

 body even partially so. Barbels or warts on the head, or an occipital crest may 

 be present or absent. The dentition is subject to considerable modifications, 

 canine teeth being present or absent, and when present being most commonly in 

 the form of a recurved one on the outer side of the enlarged lateral row in the 

 lower jaw : but variations may occur in specimens belonging to the same species. 

 In some the two dorsals are almost united at their bases, in others there exists an 

 interspace between them, but the form of the fins, the character of the spines, 

 the number of rays and the colours are subject to considerable variation. As 

 these fishes decompose rather readily, care has to be taken that the spirit in 

 which they are preserved is of sufficient strength. 



It must be observed that a very great latitude exists both in the colours and 

 modes of marking of the European gobies which has given rise to some confusion 

 in the literature of the various species. Likewise, should they " die hard," their 

 gill-covers and head become distended, in which position they stiffen as has been 

 remarked upon under the head of the Serrani, p. 15. 



Among the British Gobies are some doubtful species, and I must here point 

 out that although in the Catalogue of the British Museum, Volume i, page iv 

 of the preface, it is observed that " the collection contains many typical specimens, 

 as there has been embodied with it, besides other minor collections, * * * 

 The collection of the fishes of the Firth of Forth and Scottish rivers by Dr. 

 Parnell." This statement might occasion the belief that the entire collection of 



* Dr. Moreau observes that Gobius quadrimaculatus lias only four. 



