204 PISCES. 



G. vulgaris; Cyp. gonorhynchus^ Gm., Gronov., Zooph., pi. 

 X, f. 24. The only species known is found at the Cape of Good 

 Hope.(l) 



CoBiTiSj Lin. (2) 



The head small; body elongated, invested with small scales and co- 

 vered with mucus; ventrals very far back and above them a single 

 small dorsal; the mouth at the extremity of the snout, but slightly 

 cleft, without teeth, but encircled with lips fitted for sucking, and 

 w^ith cirri; but three rays in the branchiae, the apertures of which 

 are small; the inferior pharyngeals strongly dentated. There is no 

 caecum; and the small natatory bladder is enclosed in a bilobate, os- 

 seous case Avhich adheres to the third and fourth vertebrae.(3) Three 

 species inhabit the rivers of France. 



C. barbaiula, L., Bl.; 31, 3. A small fish four or five inches 

 in length, clouded and dotted with brown on a yellowish ground, 

 with six cirri; common in brooks, E>cc. 



C. fossilis, L.; Misgurn, Lac.;(4) Bl., 31, 1. Sometimes a 

 foot long with longitudinal brown and yellow rays, and ten cirri. 

 It lives in the mud of marshes, even long after they have been 

 dried up or covered with ice. In stormy weather it rises to the 

 surface of the water, which its restlessness keeps constantly 

 agitated; when it is cold, it descends more deeply into the mud. 

 It is constantly inhaling atmospheric air, which, according to 

 the interesting observation of M. Ehrman, after having been 

 converted into carbonic acid, is discharged per anum. The 

 flesh is soft and smells of ooze.(5) 



C. txnia, L., xii; BL, 31, 2. Six cirri; the body compressed, 

 orange-coloured, and marked with a series of black spots; dis- 

 tinguished from the two others by a forked and movable spine, 

 formed before the eye by the suborbital. It is the smallest of 

 the three, and is found in rivers, among stones, &c.; it is not 

 much esteemed. (6) 



(1) Badly copied, Schn., 78. 



(2) Ka)/S7T<f, the Greek name of some small, undetermined fish. 



(3) See Schneider, Syn. Pise. Arted., 5 and 337. 



(4) I do not separate the Misgurns from the Cobites; there is no difference 

 whatever in their organization, and the number of jaw teeth is not greater in the 

 former than in the latter; I have vainly sought for those described by Bloch. 



(5) Add the three species of Cobitis with unarmed cheeks described by Buchan- 

 an, Pise. Gang, p. 357359. 



(6) Add; Cob. geta, Buch., XI, 96, and the other seven species with armed 

 cheeks described by that Ichthyologist, op. cit., p. 350 356. 



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