GATTORUGINOUS IJLENNY. 257 



Mr. Couch considers it a common species in Cornwall, 

 that " keeps in the neighbourhood of rocks, in water of 

 four or five fathoms depth. I have heard of its taking the 

 hook, but it is more commonly caught in crab-pots, and con- 

 sequently occurs in spring and summer, when that fishing is 

 chiefly followed. It is called Tompot by the Cornish boys. 

 At the end of May I have found it large with roe, the grains 

 of which are, some of them of a mulberry, others of a lead 

 colour ; I have also seen numerous and minute young ones at 

 the same season. In its stomach I have found various bivalve 

 shells, parts of a star-fish, and of the common jointed coral- 

 lines, and brown seaweed. Specimens occasionally measure 

 eight or nine inches in length." 



Some differences have been noticed in the descriptions 

 and figures of this fish among several of the early, as well 

 as of the more modern authors, and it is probable that a 

 nearly allied species may have been sometimes mistaken for 

 the gattorugine. I have, however, ventured to consider 

 the Gattoruginous Blenny of Pennant, Montagu, and Do- 

 novan, as the same with that now described. A dried spe- 

 cimen of gattorugine from the Mediterranean, now before 

 me, is the same as the English fish. Willughby calls it 

 Gattorugine Venetiis, page 132, tab. H. 2, fig. 2. 



The forehead slopes considerably : viewed in front, a 

 groove appears between the eyes, which ends in a channel, 

 passing downwards behind each eye, formed by the elevation 

 of the bones of the orbit on each side ; from the upper and 

 rather the posterior part of each eyelid arises a branched 

 membrane, the eyelids extend considerably over the cornea 

 all round ; the nostrils arc circular, in a depression, and 

 above each is a small fimbriated membrane, plainly observ- 

 able with a lens : the lips are thin and loose, turning up or 

 down to a considerable extent, exposing the teeth ; these 

 arc placed in a single row in each jaw, arc long, slender, and 



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