9. BEXTHOPHILUS. 9L 



lines. 



Total length 33 



Height of the bodj^ 6 



Length of the head 8 



Greatest width of the head 7 



Diameter of the eye 1 



9. BENTHOPHILUS. 



Benthophilus, Eichw. Zool. Spec. iii. p. 77. 



Body moderately elongate, tubercular ; scales none; head broad, 

 depressed. Gill-openings closed, except a small aperture superiorly. 

 Teeth small. Two doi"sal fins, the anterior with three spines. 

 Ventral fins united. Branchiostegals four. 



Caspian Sea. 



1. Benthophilus macrocephalus. 



Gobius macrocephalus, Pallas, Nov. Act. Petroj). i. p. 52. pi. 7. 



tigs. 4-G, and Zoogr. iii. p. 16.3: Ciiv. iic Val. xii. p. ]26. 

 Benthophihis macrocephahis, Eichw. Zool. Spec. iii. p. 77, and Bull. Soc. 



Nat. Mosc. 18.38, ii. p. 139 ; Nordm. in Demid. Voij. Pass. 3Ierid. 



iii. p. 440, Poiss. pi. 14. fig. 2. 

 Hexacanthus macrocephalus, iVo/-f/wi.««J5K//. Acad. St. Petersh. 1837. 



D. 3 I -i. A. 9. 



Skin rough, tubercular. Head depressed, subcircular, as bi'oad 

 as long, one-third of the total length. The cleft of the mouth ^vide, 

 not extending to the eye. Greyish, spotted with blackish. 



Caspian Sea. 



10. SICYDIUM. 



Sicydium, Cm: Sf Val. xii. p. 167. 



Sicvdium et Sicyopterus, Gill in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. 18G0, 

 p. 101. 



Body subcylindrical, covered with ctenoid scales of rather small 

 size ; head oblong, with the cleft of the mouth nearly horizontal 

 and with the upper jaw prominent ; lips very thick ; the lower lip 

 generally with a series of minute teeth. A series of numerous small 

 teeth in the upper jaw, implanted in the gum and moveable (fixed 

 in the last two species) ; the lower jaw with a series of conicid 

 widely-set teeth. Eyes of moderate size. Two dorsal fins, the an- 

 terior with six (five) flexible spines ; caudal quite free ; ventral fins 

 united to a short semicircular disk, more or less adherent to the 

 belly. Gill-oi)enings of moderate width ; branchiostegals four ; air- 

 bladder none. Pseudobranchiae, a sht behind the fourth gill. 



A tropical genus, inhabiting fresh waters near the sea. One 

 species from the West Indies, the others from the East Indian 

 Islands, — the extreme points of their range being He de France, 

 Japan, and Hi^o Hawaii. 



