240 BLENNIID.E. 



implanted in the gum and moveable ; generally a curved canine 

 tooth on each side of the lower jaw, behind the series of small teeth. 

 Palate smooth (in S. vomerinus teeth on the vomer). Dorsal fin 

 continuous, sometimes divided into two portions by a more or less 

 deep notch, without a detached anterior part ; ventrals jugular, 

 formed by a small hidden spine and two or three (four) rays. Ten- 

 tacle above the orbit more or less developed. Gill-opening Avide ; 

 pseudobranchiae ; branchiostegals six. Air-bladder and pyloric ap- 

 pendages absent. 



Tropical seas of both hemispheres, extending northwards to Ma- 

 deira, southwards to Tasmania and Chile. 



I arrange the numerous species of this genus in two groups — the 

 one having the dorsal fin without, the other with a distinct notch, 

 by which the fin is divided into two more or less equal portions ; 

 and each of these groups may be subdivided into species having a crest 

 on the head, and into others in which it is absent. We must bear in 

 mind, however, that the crest has been proved, in several species, to 

 be a peculiarity of the male sex ; and therefore it may be presumed 

 that, perhaps, several of the species referred, at present, to those 

 without a crest may prove to be known from female specimens only, 

 and to belong in reality to the crested ones. 



Synopsis of the Species. 



I. Species with the dorsal fin not notched. 



a. With a crest on the head, p. 241. 



1. S. flavo-umbrinus. 2. S. oryx. 4. S. tridactylus 



3. S. sexfilum. ( tetradactylus). 



b. Without a crest on the head, p. 242. 



5. S. iitlanticus. 9. S. fasciatus. 13. S. ceramensis. 



6. S. nitidus. 10. S. fuscus. 14. S. fi-enatus. 



7. S. amboinensis. 11. S. nigro-vittatus 15. S. sebae. 



8. S. rivulatus. 12. S. cyclops. 16. S. castaueus. 



4. Salarias biseriatus, Cuv. Sf Val. xi. p. 316. — East Indies. 



5. nigcr, {Ehrenh.), Cuv.^ Val. xi. p. 327.— Red^ea. 



6. ruflcaudus, {Ehrenh.) Cuv. <f- Val. xi. p. 328. — Red Sea. 



7. guttatus, Bleek. Sangi, p. 379 ; (not Cuv. ^- Val.). — Salarias dccus- 



satus, Bleek. Biliton, iv. p. 230. — East Indian Archipelago. 



8. kingii, Cuv. ^ Val. xi. p. 334. — New Holland. 



9. heteroptcrus, Bleek. Act. Soc. Sc. Indo-Nederl. ii., Amboina, p. Gi). — 



Amboyna. 



10. Blcnnius cavernosus, Bl. Sckn. p 168. tab. 37. fig. 2. — Salarias cavernosus, 



Cuv.^- Val. xi. p. 351. 



11. Salarias olivaceus, Bli/tk in Jouvn. As. Soc. Beng. 1859, p. 271. — Anda- 



man Islands. 



12. epalzeorhynchus, Bleek. Natuurk. Tgdschr. Nederl. Ind. xix. p. 344. 



— Java. 



13. schultzei, Bleek.l.c. ^.Z^b. — Java. — Volume xix. of the journal 



quoted not having reached this country, I know of the last two species 

 only from Dr. Bleeker's " Enumeratio spccierum." 



