.4. GOBIESOX. 503 



but compressed incisors, which arc as short as the other teeth. 

 Brownish, with scattered dark spots ; a black blotch anteriorly on 

 the dorsal fin. 

 West Indies. 



a. Adult. West Indies. Museum Guilding. 



b. Ten lines long. Island of Cordova. Presented by G. U. Skinner, 



Esq. 



This species is so similar to G. ceplmlus that only the following 

 remarks appear to be necessary. The lateral profile of the head is 

 nearly semicii'cular ; the head is much depressed, as long as broad, 

 its length being two-sevenths of the total. The width of the inter- 

 orbital space is somewhat less than one-half the greatest width of 

 the head, or three times the diameter of the eye. The cleft of the 

 mouth extends beyond the anterior margin of the eye. The distance 

 of the origin of the dorsal from the caudal is more than one-half of 

 its distance from the snout. 



There is some confusion in the synonymy of this species. It is 

 scarcely possible to make out which species was examined by 

 Linne and named Cyclopterus nudus. Bloch and, after him, MiiUer 

 and-Troschel refer it to the present species, whilst Brisout de Bar- 

 neville considers it identical with the Cydoptcrus dentex of Pallas ; 

 hence the Berlin naturalists were wrong in introducing (JlwrisocMs- 

 miis nudus, Barnev., into the synonymy of their Cotylis nudus. We, 

 of course, foUow the eldest authority after Linne — Bloch. Brisout de 

 Barncville, to whom the researches of MiiUer and Troschel were un- 

 knoMTi, fell into the error of confounding the Blochian species with 

 Gohiesox mannoratus, Jenyns, fi'om Chile. The latter differs in the 

 length of the incisors of the mandibula. 



The statement of MiiUer and Troschel that G. nudus is found in 

 the East Indies is founded on Bloch, who, however, is never to be 

 trusted with regard to localities. There can be no doubt that the 

 specimens in the Biitish Museum are specificaUy identical with that 

 in the Berlin ISIuseum, and it is equaUy certain that the former were 

 coUected in the West Indies. Thus the instances of the occurrence 

 of Gohie-socidce in the East Indies are reduced to the isolated species 

 of Cotylis fimhriata. 



G. nudus does not appear to exceed a length of three inches. 



5, Gobiesox pcecUophthalmus. 



Gobiesox poecilophthalmos, Jcnyus, Voi/. Beagle, Fishes, p. 141. pi. 27. 



fig. 2. 

 Cotylis poecilophtlialma, Miill. Sf Trosch. I. c.jt. 19. 

 Tomicodon precilophthalmos, Barnev. I. c. p. 144. 



B. 6. D. 7. A. 7. 

 Anterior teeth in both jaws incisor-hke : smaUer teeth behind the 

 incisors in the upper jaw. 



Galapagos Archipelago (Chatham Island). 



" General form same as that of G. mannoratus, including the pro- 



