ACANTHOPTERYGII. 173 



head broader and shorter, the eye larger? seven spines in the 

 first dorsal, eleven rays in the second, thirteen in the anal; 

 forty-four vertebrse in all. 



Ath. mochon, Cuv. The form of the Saucletj but there are 

 seven spines in the first dorsal, fifteen soft rays in the anal, and 

 forty-six vertebrae. 



th. presbyter, Cuv.; the PretrCf Musseau, &c.j(l) Duham. 

 Sect. VI, pi. iv, f. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7. The muzzle a little shorter 

 than that of the Sauclet; eight spines in the first dorsal, twelve 

 soft rays in the second, fifteen or sixteen in the anal, and fifty 

 vertebrse. 

 The Atherinas foreign to Europe are numerous. (2) 



FAMILY XII. 



GOBIOIDES. 



The Gobioides are known by the length and tenuity of the 

 dorsal spines. All these fishes have about the same kind of 

 intestines, that is, a large uniform intestinal canal without 

 caeca, and no natatory bladder. 



Blennius, Lin. 



A strongly marked character in the ventral fins, vi^hich are placed 

 before the pectorals and consist of only two rays. The stomach is 

 slender and has no cul-de-sac, the intestine large but without a 

 caecum, and there is no natatory bladder. The body is elongated 

 and compressed, and has but a single dorsal almost entirely com- 

 posed of simple but flexible rays. They live in small troops among 

 the rocks on the coast, leaping and playing, and are capable of liv- 

 ing without water for some time. A slimy mucus is smeared over 

 their skin, to which they owe their Greek name of Blennius. Several 

 are viviparous, and there is a tubercle near the anus of all of them 



(1) So called from the silvery band on the flanks, which has been compared to 

 a stole. 



(2) Ather. lacunosa, Forst., Bl., Schn., 112, probably the hepsetus, Forsk., 69; 

 A. endrachiensis, Quoy and Gaym., Freycin., Zool., p. 334; A. Jaclcsoniana, Id. 

 333; Jl. brasiliensisyld. 332; A. neso-galica, Cuv., Lacep. V, pi. xi, f. 1, which is 

 not the same as the A, pinguis of the text. A. msenidia oilAn., which is not as he 

 supposes the mamidia of Brown, Jam. pi. xlv, f. 3, but is the A. notata, Mitch, op, 

 cit. I, pi. iv, f. fii; and sevei-al others to be described in our Icthyology. 



