258 ACANTHOPTERYGII. FAMILY OP GaBIES. 



mental, arise at the posterior part of each eyelid ; an 

 additional small fimbriated membrane may, with a 

 lens, be discovered above each ventral ; the slender 

 ventral fins are situate mider the throat, and consist 

 of only two rays each. The prevailing colour is dark 

 purplish brown above, pale brown beneath, all the 

 fins dark brown : the smaller examples are barred 

 transversely, and the colours are fainter. As to the 

 habits of the Blenny, Mr. Couch remarks, that it 

 keeps in the neighbourhood of rocks, in water of 

 four or five fathoms deep : it sometimes takes the 

 hook, but is more frequently caught in crab-pots, 

 and consequently is most frequently seen in spring 

 and summer, when that fishing is chiefly followed. 

 It is called Tom-pot by the Cornish boys ; is large 

 with roe at the end of May, the ova of which are 

 some of them of a mulberry, others of a leaden 

 colour. Numerous minute individuals are visible 

 at the same season. Specimens occasionally mea- 

 sure eight or nine inches in length. 



(Sp. 64.) B. YarreUii. Yarrell's Blenny. In 

 the first edition of his work on British Fishes, 

 Mr. Yarrell described the fish now under review 

 as belonging to the species palmicomis^ to which 

 ]M. Valenciennes thinks it does not belong. Mr. 

 Yarrell was not the first individual who described 

 it; but as he has best illustrated it, the French 

 Ichthyologist esteemed it a duty, as well as plea- 

 sure, to dedicate it to him. It difi'ers from the two 

 preceding in having the dorsal fin uniform, and 

 without any thing like a break in the middle part. 



