182 CONTRIBUTIONS TO AUSTRALIAN ICHTHYOLOGY, 



former in the possession of thoracic and quinqueradial instead of 

 jugular and pauciradial ventral tins. Gill places the Gadopsidce 

 — a family which is structurally much more intimately related to 

 the blennioid than to the gadoid fishes — next to the Cepolidce 

 and between them and the Clinidce. Reviewing the situation in 

 the light of our present knowledge, I am inclined to place the 

 Cepolidce between the eleotrine gobies and Gadoj)sis. 



Cepola. 



Cepola, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. ed. 12, i. p. 445, 1766. 



Body tsenioid. Scales non-imbricate, deeply embedded. Lateral 

 line originating above the opercle, thence obliquely ascending to 

 the base of the dorsal fin, along which it runs for a variable 

 length. Head entirely naked. Teeth in the jaws in a single 

 series, the anterior strong and hooked; lower jaw with or without 

 a short supplementary series anteriorly. Preopercle entire ; 

 opercle with a small concealed spine. Gill-rakers long, rather 

 stout, in moderate number. Dorsal fin originating above the 

 opercle, with 57 to 82 rays; anal very long, coextensive with the 

 caudal portion of the vertebral column, with 48 to 79 rays ; 

 pectoral rounded, with 12 to 16 rays, the middle the longest; 

 caudal narrow and pointed. 



Etymology — CepoJe, Cepolla, or Cepula, the names given 

 by the Roman fishermen according to Willughby (Hist. Pise, 

 p. 116) : perhaps from ceps, head (Jordan, in lit.) 



Type: — Cepola macrophthahnus, Linn?eus. 



Distribution : — Mediterranean and north-eastern Atlantic, 

 occasionally visiting the British Isles, sometimes even in consider- 

 able numbers upon their southern shores (C macrophthalmxis);* 

 north-western Pacific (C. schlegelii);i and south-eastern Australia 

 (C. australis). i 



• Cepola macrophthafmus, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. ed. x., Mediterranean. 

 Syn. Ophidioii 7nacrophthalmicnt— Cepola nibesceii>> (fide Jordan). 



t Cepola schlegelii, Bleeker, Verb. Batav. Gen. xxvd. 1856, p. 110. 



J Cepola australis, sp.nov, (v. infra). 



