ooBioMonriis. 



•2 05 



iiifiitioiis (i(fi'ij itcoiii'rijS as tlie young of suiiiU Gobies 

 which crcei) nii tlic bottom"; aiul IVdiii this source 

 Kondki.kt'' (leri\x'(l his J/ihi/a nihifis, a species difticult 

 to fix, but vefeiTed i)v Aktkdi and his imuicdiate suc- 

 <'essors to (rolihfs iiiimitifs (sec ab(i\c). 'I'hc lirst ])o.st- 

 LiniKi'aii w ritcr to a|i[)J\' the iiauie of jhiiiikiI to a lixed 

 species, was Ris.so. lie ori_ii'iMali\- referred this species 

 to thi' genus Atltcrnid. but when he (•i)ri'ecte(l iiis mis- 

 take, he placed it in a ne\\- genus, .tjiliiii. iieside Go- 

 Iiiiis. but in the t'aniil\' next alter it. 



To the s\stematist this genus is of special interest 

 on account of its remarkal)le changes of growtli and 

 external sexual characters, whicli still fnrtlier increase 

 our hesitation to go to too great lengths in Ihi^ dis- 

 tinction of species within the preceding genus, to which 

 ^{pln/(t is b\- no means (listantl\- related. In the only 

 species belonging to this genus, the form of the body 

 during \duth (tig. 71, h) is elongated und compressed', 

 renunding us especially of the fr\' of the lleri-ing; and 

 it is not until the sexual organs approach maturity, 

 that the Gobioid appearance of this species is developed. 

 The bi'eadth of the bod}-, especially of the head, now 

 increases; and the interorbital space, which has hitherto 

 been narrow, measuring only slightly more or even less 

 than half the diameter of the eye, attains a breadth 

 e(]ual to the longitudinal diameter of the e}e or, in the 

 males, still greater (tig. 69). The most important, se- 

 condarv, sexual distinction lies, however, in the form 

 and si/e of the jaw-teeth. In the females they retain 

 their juvenile arrangement, and are suuxll, pointed, some- 

 what curved, of uniform size, and set fairly close to- 

 gether in a single row. In tlie full-grown males, on 

 the other hand (fig. 70), these teeth disappear, in the 

 front of the mouth at least, but are replaced bv a fresh 

 row of larger, more scattered and somewhat blunt teeth, 

 4 or 5 on each of the intermaxillarv bones and ?> or 4 on 

 each half of the lower jaw; and within this row, in the 

 lower jaw at its end, but in the upper jaw farther for- 



ward towards the snout, there appears a recurved, canine 

 tooth on each side. Tlnnigh Caxesthini'' was the first 

 to remark this difference in the teeth, it has been 

 most full\' elucidated ])y Gollktt', who also came to 



Fig. (J9. Apliijii miniitu; head of an adult male, sjiowing llie longi- 



Uidinal and transverse rows of papilla; belonging to llie system of llie 



lateral line, seen from above. Magnified. After Coi.lE'IT. 



'^f^9^j 



JSSs^^iteite^- 



Fig. 7U. Aplii/a ininiita: bead of a young male («), during winter, 

 of an older male (i), just before the spawning-season, and of a full- 

 grown male (e), during the spawning-season; seen from the side. In 

 the last figure is sliown the extension of the lateral line on the side 

 of the head. Magnified. After Coi.lett. 



the conclusion that these tishes, as well as the follow- 

 inji" irenus, are annual vertebrates, the onh' instances 

 of the kind, which propagate their species wlien a year 

 old, and die soon afterwards. 



" Anim. Hist., lib. \-I. eap. 15. 



* De Piscibus. lib. VII. eap. III. 



■■ ApiClUS took this form as his model, and though far from the sea, where it was quite impossible to obtain these fishes, thus pro- 

 cured for NicOMEDES, king of Bithynia, the coveted dainty, by cutting turnips into thin slices and thoroughly boiling them witli spices in oil. 

 (UoNDEt.., 1. c, cap. II.) 



■' Arch. Zool., Anat., Fisiol. vol. I (Geneva, Dee. 18G1). p. 1,52. Kessi.eu (Bull. Soe. Imp. Nat. Moscou, tome XXXIl (18o0), Xo. 2, 

 p. 2 GO) had also remarked this difference, but only in individual cases, and without regarding it as a sexual distinction. 



« Proe. Zool. Soe. Lond. 1878, p. .S2y. 



Scinidintirian Fi^iltts. 



34 



