2210 Bidleiin 4.7, United States National Museum. 



813. GOBIUS (Artedi) Linnfeus. 

 (Gobies.) 



Gobim, Abtedi, Genera, 28, 1738 {Gobius ex nigricante varius, etc., = mger). 



Gobim. LiNNvEUS, Syst. Nat., Ed. x, 262, 1758 (niger, etc.), and of authors generally. 



Gobionelliis, Girard, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phlla. 1858, 168 {hastafus=ocea7iiciis). 



Ctenogobius, Gill, Fish. Trinidad, 374, 1858 {/asciatvs). 



Euetenogohius, Gill, Annals Lye. Nat. Hist. New York 1859, 45 {badius). 



Smaragdvs, Poey, Memorias, n, 279, 1861 (smaragdvs). 



?Pomatoscliistvs, Gill, Vtoc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Pliila. 1803, 263, footnote (minutus). 



Oonjphoptenm, Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1863, 263 (glaucofrcmium). 



?DeltentO!fteiis, Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1863, 263, footnote (quadrimaculatus). 



Wobiichthys, Klunzinger, Fisch. Rothen Meeres, 479, 1871 (petertii). 



?Mesogobitis, Bleeker, Esquiase d'un Syst. Nat. Gobioid., 317, 1874 (guavina). 



? Stenogohius, Bleeker, I. c, 317 (gymnopomus). 



? Oligolepis, Bleeker, I. c, 318 (melanostigma). 



?Oiiatholepis, Bleeker, I.e., 318 (anjerensii). 



?Callogobius, Bleeker, I. c, 318 (hasselti). 



?Hypogymnogobius, Blkeker, I. c, 318 (xaiithozona). 



? Hemigobiius, Bleekek, I. c, 318 {melanurns) . 



? Cephalogobius, Bleeker, I. c, 320 (tublitus). 



?Acentrogobius, Bleeker, Z.c, 321 {chlorostigma), 



? Porogobiiis, Bleeker, I. c, 321 (schlegeli). 



?Atnbly gobius, Bleeker, I. c, 322 (sphinx). 



Zonogobius, Bleeker, I. c, 323 isemifasciatut). 



?Odontogobius, Bleeker, I. c, 323 (bynoensit). 



?Sligmatogobiiis, Bleeker, I. c, 323 (pleurostigma). 



?Oxyurichthys, Bleeker, I. c, 324 (belos»o). 



Lythrypnus, JORDAN & Evermann, Check-List Fishes, 458, 1896 (dallii). 



Body oblong or elon.iiate, compressed behind. Head oblong, more or 

 less depressed. Eyes high, anterior, close together; opercles unarmed. 

 Mouth moderate. Teeth on jaws only, conical, in several series, those in 

 the outer row enlarged; no canines. Isthmus broad. Shoulder girdle 

 without fleshy flaps or papillse. Skull depressed, abruptly widened 

 behind the eyes and without distinct median keel. Scales moderate, 

 ctenoid, permanently covering the body; cheeks usually naked; belly 

 generally scaly. Dorsal with 6 rather weak spines ; pectorals well devel- 

 oped, the upper rays sometimes very slender and silky; ventrals com- 

 pletely united, not adnate to the belly ; caudal tin usually obtuse. Species 

 very numerous. The genus Gobius, as here understood, comprises a very 

 large number of species more or less closely related to the European type 

 of the genus, Gobius niger, and its American relative, Gobius soporaior. An 

 examination of skulls or skeletons of numerous European and American 

 species shows a remarkable uniformity in most respects. The general 

 form and structure of the cranium is the same in all, the only dift'erences 

 being very minor ones in the height of certain crests. Gobius oceanicus 

 seems the most aberrant, but seems to be inseparable generically on 

 account of intermediate forms. Probably several of the many genera 

 indicated by Bleeker will prove valid, but only a thorough study of skele- 

 tons can e,stablish them. It is not unlikely that Ctenogobius, to which 

 group most of our species belong, may be separable from Gobius. {Hcofiioz ; 

 Latin, Gobius or Gobio, a name applied to the gudgeon {Gobio gobio) and 



