GOBIES AND BLENNIES. 169 



the above engraving : in colour it is very variable ; 

 generally some shade of brown prevails, from 

 plain drab, or dull wood-brown, to reddish- brown, 

 usually darker above than below, and frequently 

 mottled on the sides. 



The habits of this fish, as far as recorded, seem 

 generally those common to the genus. Its want 

 of an air-bladder compels it to live for the most 

 part at the bottom, usually selecting some piece 

 of rock as its home, about which it plays, and 

 under which it hides when danger approaches. 

 At the recess of the tide, according to Mr. Couch's 

 observations, the larger individuals, that cannot 

 find concealment in pools or beneath the stones, 

 quit the water, and by means of their pectorals 

 creep into holes, rarely more than one in each, 

 where, lying with the head pointing outward, 

 they patiently wait the return of the tide to set 

 them at liberty. Should they be alarmed when 

 thus watching, they retreat backward to the bot- 

 tom of their caverns. The observant zoologist, 

 who records these facts, infers from them that the 

 Shanny is retentive of life, in further proof of 

 which he mentions that he has known it to con- 

 tinue lively after a confinement of thirty hours 

 in a dry box ; though immersion in fresh water 

 would be presently fatal to it. 



Colonel Montagu has also remarked on the 

 Shanny's tenacity of life ; stating that it will live 

 out of water for many days in a damp place, es- 

 pecially if put into fresh grass or moss moistened 

 with sea-water, and presuming that with a little 

 attention it might be kept alive in this way for 

 several weeks. 



In our account of the habits of the Trigladce, 



