26? PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



Branchiostegal rays five ; the fifth very thin and concealed in the mem- 

 brane. 



Dorsal fins distinct; the first scarcely oblong, with six spines, the last of 

 which is remote; the second rather long, (I. 916), with the soft rays 

 generally having an anterior simple and posterior forked branch ; last ray 



tree. 



Anal fin shorter than the second dorsal. (I, 814), and ending under its 



last rays. 



Caudal fin broad, rounded behind. 



Pectoral fins well developed, produced and rounded behind, with the upper 

 rays short, deeply branched and filamentous or silk-like; the rest well defined and 

 normally branched. 



Ventral fins inserted below the bases of the pectoral, obliquely infnndifu- 

 Hform, with the inner rays largest and well connected; the interspinous mem- 

 brane low. 



Type. Gobius niger L. 



The genus Gobius, restricted as it has now been, still contains a num- 

 ber of species, two of which, are English the G. niger L., and G. paga- 

 ndlus, L. upon which the generic characters have been especially verified, 

 they being the types of the genus. A considerable difference exists in the 

 development of the dorsal and anal fins, in different species of the genus. 



Gobius caroliniensis Gill. 



The height equals about a fifth of the total length ; the caudal peduncle 

 ( from the vertical of the anal and dorsal fin to its end) forms about a sixth of the 

 came, and its height equals a ninth. The head enters 4, 1-5 times in the 

 length ; its width six times ; the diameter of the eye equals a quarter of the 

 head's length and the length of the snout. The caudal fin forms about a 

 Jifth of the total length : the pectoral nearly equals the caudal. 

 1 1 



D. VI. I. 8 A. L. 1 P. 18 

 1 1 



There are about thirty-eight transverse rows of scales and fourteen longi- 

 tudinal ones between the front of the second dorsal and origin of anal fin. 



The color is blackish-brown, indistinctly bordered with darker, and with a 

 darker spot at the base of the caudal fin. There are a few lighter spots on 

 the operculum. The fins are purplish. 



A single specimen has been sent from Charleston, South Carolina, to the 

 Smithsonian Institution. The species is most closely allied to G. soporator, 

 but differs in some of the proportions, especially the narrower caudal pedun- 

 cle, and in the number of scales. 



Genus GOBIOSOMA Girard. 



Synonymy. 



Gobiosoma Girard, Proc. Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia, 1858. 



p. 169. 

 Gobiosoma Giinther, Catalogue of the Acanthopterygian Fishes, &c.vol. iii.p. 



85, 1861. 

 Gobius sp. Lac, Mitch., Cuv. et Vol. &c. 



Body scaleless, oblong, slowly declining and compressed towards the cau- 

 dal fin, anus in advance of the middle, the peduncle oblong and not or scarcely 

 contracted, with the back and abdomen trasversely rounded, and the sides 

 nb vertical. 



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

 eyes and thence boldly decurved to the edge of the rather high subtrancated 

 nnout; above snbcordate, in front of the nape, (and preopercle), diminishing 



[Sept. 



