yarrell's blenny 235 



of life it bore no inconsiderable general resemblance to the 



Butterfish, presently to be described, the outline proceeding 



straight from the eyes to the tail, and the front descending 



from the eyes to the lips in a circular form. When dead 



this example assumed a rigid spasm, and then the head was 



bent upward, and the tail was bent from a right line. The 



longer tufts between the eyes when alive appeared short, and 



were directed forward, but in death they became stretched up 



and erect. The dorsal fin was not actually joined to the tail, 



but the anal was united to it. The threads in front of the 



dorsal fin were numerous; ventral fins short. Instead of beino- 



o 



branched like a deer's horn, the processes above the eyes were 

 tufted like a cluster of grapes; the first rays of the dorsal fin 

 were not particularly lengthened, and were only slightly tufted. 

 The colours were beautiful, the general tint being pale yellowish 

 pink. The large prominent eye encircled with a dark border, 

 from the lower portion of which a band passed down to the 

 angle of the mouth. Dorsal fin lighter than the body and 

 speckled. Body with bands, mottled. A whitish dash on the 

 upper border of the lateral line, and nine whitish heart-shaped 

 spaces along the sides to the tail near the dorsal fin, to which 

 they are joined by a narrow band. It proved to be a female, 

 and when alive and at rest it had a disposition to turn its 

 tail forward by bending the body, in reference to which habit 

 Mr. Peach observes of an example which he kept alive, that 

 it generally rested with its tail turned towards its head, the 

 anal fin being laid flat, outside, on the part turned round, as 

 if to support it. It even seemed, after a time, as if capable 

 of being tamed; and its eyes were often seen turned in opposite 

 directions, as has often been noticed in other fishes of kindred 

 families. Besides a power to turn the tail on either side, it 

 was also able to lift it up and depress it. 



The difference of colour in these examples, as here noticed, 

 cannot be regarded as marks of sex, since in a pair afterwards 

 examined, one of which was a male and the other a female, 

 the form and colour were closely like those of the specimen 

 first described. In the mottled fish the dorsal fin contained 

 fifty-one rays, the anal thirty-eight, pectoral fourteen, caudal 

 sixteen, and the ventral three; but of the branchial rays six 

 were counted, while in the others only five appeared. 



