NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 267 



Not Gobius gracilis Jenyns. 

 Gobius lepidus Girard, Explorations and Surveys for a Railroad Route, Arc, 

 vol. vi., Abbot's Report, Zoology, p. 21 (figured). Girard, op. cit., vol. 

 x., Fishes, p. 127, pi. xxva, figs. 5-6. Girard, op. cit., vol. x. William- 

 son's Report, Zoology, p. 86. 

 Lepidogobius gracilis Gill, Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New 



York, vol, vii. p. 14, 1859. 

 Gobius lepidus Giinther, Catalogue of the Acanthopterygian Fishes, &c.,vol. 



iii. p. 78, 1861. 

 Lepidogobius gracilis Gill, Proc. Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila., 

 1862, p. 330. 

 D. VII. I. 19. A. I. 16. P. 24. V. I. 5+5. I. 



The color is tawny or reddish-brown, (thickly dotted with blackish-purpk 

 when viewed under the magnifier) ; the snout, interorbital region and lips, 

 purplish ; the branchiostegal membrane dark purple. The fins are also pur- 

 ple, and thickly dotted with darker, especially between the rays. 



On the G0BI0IDS of the Eastern Coast of the United States. 



BY THEODORE GILL. 



Subfamily GOBIINJE (Bon.) Gill. 



Genus GOBIUS Artedi. 



Synonymy. 



Gobius Artedi, Genera Piscium. 



Gobius Cuvier, Regne Animal ed, tome ii. 



Gobius Cuv. et Vol. Hist., Nat. des Poissons, tome xii. p. 1. 



Gobius Giinther, Cat. Acanthop. Fishes, vol. iii. p. 3. 



Body moderately elongated, subcylindrical anteriorly, slowly declining and 

 compressed towards the caudal fin, with the anus little in advance of the mid- 

 dle of the total length, and with the caudal peduncle oblong and not or scarcely 

 contracted at its middle. 



Scales moderate, (in 35 55 transverse rows), more or less hexagonal, gen- 

 erally higher than long, pectinated behind, with the nucleus at or next to 

 the posterior angle, and with radiating striae diverging from it towards the 

 anterior border ; scales generally advancing forwards on the crown. 



Head oblong, depressed, wider than high, slowly declining to the snout, 

 and with the snout itself, in front, boldly decurved ; above conical, rather 

 rapidly narrowed to the snout, whose periphery is convex. Cheeks behind 

 more or less tumid. Eyes moderate, longitudinal elliptical, oblique and look- 

 ing upwards, closely approximated and situated almost, or wholly, in the ante- 

 rior half of the head. Opercula unarmed. Operculum moderate, shorter than 

 or equal to the internal between it and the eyes. 



Mouth with the cleft longitudinal, ovoid^the supramaxillars under the pupils. 

 Lower jaw even with, or rather shorter than the upper. Intermaxillars little 

 protractile obliquely forwards, with the posterior processes short, the lateral 

 branches thick, little attenuated backwards and above, with a thin elevated 

 crest, generally truncated in front and decurved behind. Supramaxillars 

 longer than the intermaxillars, slightly twisted, towards the ends compressed 

 and decurved, and with a narrow expansion downwards. 



Tongue moderate, rather thin, truncated and free in front. 



Teeth fixed, acutely conic and curved, pluriserial, enlarged in the outer row. 

 Palate smooth. 



Branchial apertures lateral, vertical, bounded above by a membrane 

 attached in front of the upper pectoral rays, below continued in a short elit 

 between the fourth branchiostegal ray and breast ; isthmus very wide. 



1863.] 



