2344 Bulletin //, United States National Museum. 



66. Gill openings reduced to separate, narrow, nearly horizontal slits below and in 



front of the pectoral fin ; ventrals small ; dorsal tin long and low, anteriorly 



of slender spines ; vertical fins connected. Oerdalid.^, cciii. 



aa. Caudal tin none, the tail tapering to a point; no ventral fins ; no lateral line; scales 



riidiuientary; anterior part of dorsal of low free-hooked spines, the posterior 



part of many slender soft rays ; teeth in jaws only, close set in 1 row. 



Ptilichthyid^, cciv. 



Family CC. BLENNIID^E. 



(The Blennies.) 



Body obloug or elongate, naked or covered with moderate or small 

 scales which are ctenoid or cycloid; lateral line variously developed, 

 often wanting, often duplicated; mouth large or small, the teeth various; 

 gill membranes free from isthmus or more or less attached to it; pseudo- 

 branchi;e present; ventrals jugular or subthoracic, of 1 spine and 1 to 3 

 soft rays, often wanting; dorsal fin of spines anteriorly, with or without 

 soft rays; anal fin long, similar to soft dorsal; caudal well developed. 

 Vertebrie in moderate or large number, 30 to 80. Carnivorous fishes of 

 moderate or small size, mostly living near the shore in the tropical and 

 temperate or arctic seas; most of them are carnivorous, the Clininn; so 

 far as known, ovoviviparous, the rest mostly oviparous. Genera, about 

 80 ; species, about 400 ; chiefly of the rock pools and algfe ; some species 

 in the lakes of Italy. Dr. Gill divides the tropical Blennies into 3 families, 

 Clinichf, Blenniidw, and Cluvnopsida'. The first and second of these are 

 fairly well defined. The third is now heterogeneous, and some of its mem- 

 bers are intermediate between the other two. The arctic Blennies he again 

 divides into Xiphidiidfr, Cebediclithyida', and Sticha'ida', but the first and 

 last of these groups intergrade, the Jiipliidimw are modified Clininir, and 

 there are other forms as well entitled to separate rank as Cebediclithi/s. 

 It seems to us better to treat the group as a single family with many 

 subfamilies. {BlenniidWf Giiuther, Cat., in, 206-297.) 



I. Tropical Blennies, with the vertebrse mostly in moderate number, usually fewer than 

 45; lateral line usually arched high above the pectoral, if present; dorsal tin with soft 

 rays, at least 1 being present; anal spines little developed; ventrals well developed, 

 usually I, 3. 



a. Body scaly. 

 Clininn : 

 6. Lateral line present, arched anteriorly over the pectoral, becoming posteriorly 

 median in position, or else obsolete; species ovoviviparous. 

 c. Scales ctenoid, very rough, 35 to 46 in lateral line; dorsal divided into 3 

 tins ; no cirri above eye. Enneanectes, 868. 



CC. Scales cycloid ; dorsal fin not divided into 3 flns. 

 d. Dorsal with 6 to 20 soft rays. 



e. Shoulder girdle with a small upturned hook on its inner edge. 



/. Scales along lateral line anteriorly not enlarged; snout 



sharp ; first 5 spines of dorsal more or less modified. 



g. Caudal fin forked ; air bladder present; scales minute; 



teeth in jaws in more than 1 series, on vomer and 



palatines; first 5 dorsal spines lengthened, and 



partly separated. Heteuostichus, 869. 



