Species of Lepadogaster. 35 



apparently undescribed species of Lepadogaster which was 

 taken in Roundstone Bay, Connemara, on the western coast of 

 Ireland. From the two British species already known, L. bima- 

 culatus and L. Comubiensis, this fish is very different. It can- 

 not be that alluded to in his paper on the Fishes of Cornwall by 

 Mr. Couch, (Linn. Trans, v. xiv. p. 88.) as allied to the latter, 

 nor can it be mistaken by any ichthyologist for the L. Cornu- 

 biensis, 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." ' Man. Brit. Vert. An/ p. 470. A 

 critical comparison shows that the fish under consideration 

 agrees not with any of the eleven or twelve ? (see p. 274) spe- 

 cies described by Risso as inhabiting the Mediterranean*, 

 'Hist. Nat. l'Eur. Mer.' t. 3. p. 271 — of these, the L. bici- 

 liatus is considered by Mr. Yarrell to be the same as the 

 L. Comubiensis. Although in the depressed form of the head, 

 this fish resembles more the minute species L. bimaculatus 

 than the L. Comubiensis, yet its equalling the latter in size, 

 and having with it the dorsal and anal fins occupying a con- 

 siderable portion of its length, renders it only necessary to 

 be compared with this species. In general form it differs 

 much from L. Comubiensis f ; 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 nar- 

 rows suddenly behind the ventral disk, being to the tail com- 

 pressed and tapering — in L. Comubiensis the body slopes gra- 

 dually from the head posteriorly. 



* This genus is either limited in geographical distribution, or there is 

 much yet to be learned respecting it. In the general work of Bloch there 

 is not a single species included ; in the ' Prodromus Ichthyologiae Scandi- 

 navicae' of Nilsson, published in 1832, there are none, and in the ' Fauna 

 Boreali- Americana ' it is remarked that none of the genus has yet been de- 

 tected in America. 



Since this article was sent forward for publication I have seen Mr. 

 Lowe's ' Synopsis of the Fishes of Madeira,' just published in the 'Transac- 

 tions of the Zoological Society of London' (vol. ii. part 3). Here I find a 

 species of Lepadogaster described, but with much doubt, as the L. Candollii 

 of Risso. — The few characters of the Madeira fish given by Mr. Lowe ac- 

 cord with those of L. cephalus ; but without a more detailed description of it, 

 any opinion as to the identity of the species must be premature. 



f The comparison is drawn up between the L. cephalus and an individual 

 of L . Comubiensis of similar size. 



D 2 



