11. PHYCIS. 351 



length. Head scaly, except the foremost part of the snout, which is 

 naked. Interorbital space flat, its width being equal to the diameter 

 of the eye, which is one-fourth of the length of the head. Snout 

 broad, obtuse, rounded, not longer than the eye, with the upper jaw 

 overlapping the lower. Cleft of the mouth rather oblique, the maxil- 

 lary not extending to the hinder margin of the eye. Barbel as long 

 as the eye. Teeth in the jaws villiform, of equal size, forming bands. 

 Vomer smooth. Nostrils immediately before the eye. Operculum 

 rounded, without point. Seven branchiostegals ; gill-membranes 

 united by a narrow cutaneous bridge ; four gills, a slit behind the 

 fourth ; pseudobranchiae small, glandular. Dorsal fins of equal height, 

 and, like the anal, enveloped in a scaly membrane ; the anterior com- 

 mences behind the vertical from the base of the pectoral, the posterior 

 in the same vertical with the anal. Caudal rounded, entirely free 

 from dorsal and anal. Pectoral rather short, its length being equal 

 to the distance between the posterior margin of the orbit and the 

 extremity of the operculum. Ventral fins exceedingly narrow, as in 

 PJiycis, and inserted anteriorly at the throat, but composed of five 

 slender rays, which are enveloped by a common membrane at the base, 

 the two outer rays being the strongest, and the second the longest, 

 but shorter than the head ; the three inner rays are very thin, and 

 only their tips are visible externally. 



Brownish ; vertical fins with a darker edge. 



11. PHYCIS*. 



Phycis, sp., et Enchelyopus, sp., Bl. Srhn. 

 Phycis, Cuv. R^gne Anim. 



Body of moderate length, covered with small scales. Fins more 

 or less enveloped in a loose skin. A separate caudal ; two dorsal 

 fins and one anal ; the anterior dorsal composed of eight to ten rays ; 

 ventrals reduced to a single long ray, bifid at its end. Small teeth 

 in the jaws and on the vomer; vomerine teeth in an angular band; 

 none on the palatine bones. Chin with a barbel. Branchiostegals 

 seven. 



Temperate parts of the North Atlantic. Mediterranean. 



1. Phycis blennioides. 



? ^vk\s, Aristot. viii. c. 30.t 



? Phycis, Plin. ix. c. 26, xxxii. c. ll.t 



Phycis, Rotidel. vi. c. 10. p. 186 ; Gesner, pp. 718, 845 ; Aldrov. i. c. 8. 



p. 43 ; Jonston, i. tit. 2. cap. 1. art. 6. tab. 14. no. 4 ; (not Salv.). 

 Barbus major, Jayo in Ray, Syn. p. 163. fig. 7. 



* 1. Batrachoides gmelini, Eisso, Ichih. Nice, p. 143. pi. 6. fig. 16, and Eur. 

 Merid. iii. p. 223. 



2. Phycis dekayi, Kaup in Wiegm. Arch. 1858, p. 89. — North America. 



3. Gadus tenuis, Mitch. Lit. if Fhil. Trans. New York, i. p. 372. — North 



America, 

 t It is probable that the ancients assigned this name to a Goby. 



