160 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



GENUS GOBIUS. Linneus. 



Ventrals joined together, forming a hollow disk, placed under the thorax. Two dorsals. 

 Teeth velvet-like, or in cards. 



Obs. This genus, restricted as it now is, contains, in the great work of Cuvier and Va- 

 lenciennes, ninety species. On this coast we have only to notice 



THE VARIEGATED GOBY. 



GOBIUS ALEPIDOTUS. 



PLATE XXIII. FIG. 70. — (CABINET OF THE LYCEUM.) 



Gobius alepidolus. Bosc, Bloch, Schniedee, p. 547. 



G. boscii. Lacepede, Hist. Poiss. Vol. 2, p. 555, pi. 16, fig. 1. 



Variegated Goby, G. viridipallidus. MlTCHILL, Lit. and Pliil. Soc. Vol. 1, p. 379, pi. 1, fig. 8. 



Le Gobie de Bosc. Cov. et Val. Hist, des Poiss. Vol. 12, p. 96. 



Characteristics. Greenish brown, with seven vertical dusky bands. Length two to three 

 inches. 



Description. Body oblong, cylindrical, slightly compressed on the sides. Surface of the 

 body, examined under a lens, totally destitute of scales. The lateral line not apparent. Head 

 one-fifth of the total length, broad, and flattened behind the eyes, with a longitudinal medial 

 groove. Eyes more oblong than round, vertical ; the upper portion of their orbits nearly 

 contiguous, and only separated by a narrow furrow. Nostrils double, and near the eye's. A 

 bony triangular process on the summit and extremity of the upper jaw. Opercles susceptible 

 of great dilatation. Mouth terminal, with a wide gape ; the lower jaw, when opened, longest. 

 Both jaws furnished with small pointed conical recurved teeth, thickly crowded, in many 

 series in front, and in a single series behind ; the outer row in front longest. Tongue smooth 

 and free. 



The rays of all the fins very slender and delicate. The first dorsal fin is composed of six 

 rays, extending beyond the membrane ; they are subequal, but the first and last are shortest. 

 This fin arises - 55 from the end of the upper jaw, and is connected by a low rayless mem- 

 brane with the second. This second fin commences at a point rather nearer to the head than 

 to the extremity of the tail ; it is composed of fourteen rays, and terminates within 0"2 of 

 the base of the caudal, with its first rays slightly shortest. Pectoral pointed, its tip reaching 

 a point under the commencement of the second dorsal ; the middle rays longest, those above 

 and beneath successively shorter. Seventeen rays were counted, but at the base were seen 

 the rudiments of three or four more. Ventrals funnel-shaped, with twelve or thirteen rays, 

 the anterior being short and indistinct; the length of its longest rays, 0'2. The anal fin 

 commences under the fourth ray of the second dorsal, and terminates within 0'3 of the base 

 of the caudal, with eleven subequal rays. Caudal long, lanceolate, with nineteen rays. Vent 

 with an elevated rounded tubercle behind. 



