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The Lepadoyasler Balbis inhabits the sea of Villa- Franc a, 

 in the environs of Nice. It is from three to four inches long. 

 It was first described by M. Risso. M. Cuvier thinks that 

 it may well be the same as the Cyclopterus cornubicus of 

 Shaw, or the Jura sucker of Pennant. 



Lepadogaster Candolii, about the length of three inches, is 

 found in the sandy depths of the Sea of St. Hospice, also 

 near Nice. It presents several variations, all of which in 

 that country bear the name of Pei S. peire. M. Risso has 

 named it from the learned botanist Decandolle, as he named 

 the preceding from the Professor Balbis of Turin. He has 

 dedicated another from the same sea to the botanist Will- 

 denow. 



The word Cyclopterus, derived from the Greek kukAoc, 

 circulus, and tttzqo., pinna, and signifying fins in a circle, 

 indicates very well the principal character of these fishes, the 

 union of the ventral fins. 



The ancients do not seem to have been acquainted with 

 the fishes of the genus Cyclopterus. Nevertheless George 

 Pisidas, a Greek writer of the seventh century, has indicated 

 them under the name of Naucrates, conjointly with the 

 echeneis, since he speaks of their fin, " quce ad medium 

 pectus circumplicala cinyit cymbali instar." 



The colours of the Cyclopterus lumpus vary according to 

 sex and age. The tubercles with which its body is furnished 

 also vary in their conformation ; some are flatted, some are 

 rounded, and others sharp. 



The organs of its sensations, especially those of hearing 

 and sight, have appeared to naturalists to be more perfect 

 than those of other fishes. Some persons have even regarded 

 as a seat of touch, or a sort of hand of considerable extent, 

 the disk formed below by the union of the ventrals. Bloch 

 has proved, by his dissections, that the intestinal canal of the 

 lumpus is six or seven times longer than the body, and as it 



