202 CONNEMARA SUCKEB. 



that the species he has met with in Ireland is the same that 

 Avill be here described. In the collection of Dr Ball, of 

 Dublin, there is an apparently undescribed species of Lepado- 

 gaster, which was taken in Roundstone Bay, Connemara, on 

 the western coast of Ireland. From the two British species 

 already known, L. hhnaculatus and L. Cornuhiensis, this fish is 

 very different. It cannot be that alluded to in his paper on 

 the fishes of Cornwall, by Mr. Couch, ('Lin. Trans.,' vol. xiv, 

 p. 470, J as allied to the latter, nor can it be mistaken by any 

 ichthyologist for the L. Cornuhiensis , which has been described 

 so differently by authors, as to have led Mr. Jenyns to 

 remark in reference to it, that ^possibly we may have two 

 species in our seas which have been hitherto confounded.' A 

 critical comparison shews that the fish under consideration 

 agrees not with any of the eleven or twelve (?) species 

 described by Risso as inhabiting the Mediterranean. Of these 

 the L. biciliatus is considered by Mr. Yarrell to be the same 

 as the L. Cornuhiensis. Although in the depressed form of 

 the head this fish resem.bles more the minute species, L. 

 himaculatus than the L. Cornuhiensis, yet its equalling the 

 latter in size, and having with it the dorsal and anal fins 

 occupying a considerable portion of its length, renders it only 

 necessary to be compared with this species. In general form 

 it differs much from L. Cornuhiensis. Though narrower in the 

 snout, it is of greater breadth across the posterior part of 

 the head; it is also much more depressed in the anterior 

 half, and narrower suddenly behind the veiitral disk, being to 

 the tail compressed and tapering. In L. Cornuhiensis the body 

 slopes gradually from the head posteriorly." 



It is probable that this fish is limited to particular districts, 

 and the few examples that have fallen into my hands have 

 only been obtained at very low tides, under a stone, or in 

 shallow water. 



The length of the examples selected for description was two 

 inches and a half, and the general shape much like that of 

 the Doubly-spotted Sucker; and from this it is immediately 

 distinguished by the much longer dorsal and anal fins, the 

 former of which begins nearer the head, and both approach 

 close to the tail. From the Cornish Sucker it is distinguished 

 by the difference of proportions, particularly of the head and 



