1 7R 



^'^ PISCES. 



among the rocks near the shore. Most of them have a simple nata- 

 tory bladder. 



GoBius, Lacep. and Schn. 

 In the true Gobies the ventrals are united throughout their whole 

 length and even before their base by a traverse, so as to form a 

 concave disk. The body is elongated^ head moderate and rounded; 

 cheeks inflated and the eyes approximated; two dorsal fins, the last 

 ot which IS long. Several species inhabit the seas of Europe, whose 

 characters are not yet sufficiently ascertained.(l) 



They prefer a clayey bottom, where they excavate canals in which 

 they pass the winter. In the spring they prepare a nest in some 

 spot aboundmg with fucus, which they afterwards cover with 

 roots of the Zostera; here the male remains shut up, and awaits the 

 lemales who successively arrive to deposit their eggs; he fecun- 

 dates them, and exhibits much care and courage in defending and 

 preserving them.(2) 



G niger L.; Penn., Brit. Zool. pi. 38. (The Common Goby.) 

 Body blackish-brown; dorsals bordered with whitish; the most 

 common species on the coast of Europe. The extremities of 

 the superior rays of the pectorals are free; length, four or five 

 inches. 



G.jozzo,Bl,i07,r.3. (The Blue Goby.) Brown, marbled 

 with blackish; blackish fins; two white lines on the first dorsal, 

 whose rays are prolonged in filaments above the membrane. 



G mznutus,L.; Jiphia, Penn. pi. S7. (The White Goby.) Body 

 a pale fawn-colour; fins whitish, transversely marked with fawn- 

 coloured lines: length, from two to three inches. 

 The Mediterranean, which is perhaps inhabited by these three 

 species produces several others of different sizes and colours.(3) 



G. capxto, Cuv.; Gesner, 396. (The Great Goby.) Olive, 



of the ' T "delet have endeavoured to prove that this fish is the GoUu. 



mined Med t ' ^"''"'^ ^ '"^^ '"^"^ ^" '"^^ '^^ badly deter- 



mined Mediterranean species of those authors. Hence has arisen a most ineztrica- 



tions'and 7"' '" "T"^^' "''^'' '' '^ "^^^^^^^ * recommence both desc p. 

 tions and figures, a task we shall partially undertake in our Icthyology. ^ 



vinL which r"''"'r "'r "''''' '^ ^' '""'^ ^^'^''' " ^ ""'"^y ^*he canals of 

 Venice, which he considers identical with the niger, but which is perhaps another 



sec nd ::r^"lf^^^^^ - ^Pe-s, they are given by M. de Martens in the 



the pII r;.. ^"'- '' '^'""^' P- "'' ""'y ^^^'^^--^ '^' ^hat the Goby is 



the PAya. of the ancients, the only fah that constructs a nest," Arist. Hist., lib 

 V 111, cap. XXX. ' 



B:!il fl't ''I'^.^'^'P^r^' '^"^ ^^thout wholly adopting the nomenclature of 

 Kisso, Icht. de Nice, p. 155, et seq. 



