i)i;A(i(»NK'rs. 



271 



iiiul may he (if no siiinll iiniiortaiice as food for other of these last species at flift'ereiit spots and in dififei-ent 



fishes, espeeially yoini^' ("od, small (iadidtc ,ind llcr- I years. 



rinjfs. The w.int uf I'ciiul.irity in its annu.d appearance | Cri/shdlof/nl/tits Xilssonit has only once lieen fonnd 



at a certain spot may, thcrcfurc, he well deserving' of ont of Scandinavia. Tiiis fuid was made in Scotland, 



careful investigation, as we may |)ossil)l\- lind herein j where, according to Day, in Ma\', 1868, Edward dis- 



a clue to the explanation of the \ar\ing (icciirrence ' covered a male specimen in a pool on the siiore near Banff. 



'AM. 



( A L L I N Y M T 1) M. 



Bodfi el()ii(/(tfi'(l, iixirc or less (Jottifoiiii, (iiilcrioiii/ ilcjncsscd and posti'iioiiij fcrcfc or of ii iniindci/ //ididrinii/idiir 

 shapt'. Two dorsal /ii/s. the hose of llie aiiti'iior shorter thou that of tJic posterior, oi/d the former eomposed 

 of flp.rihie, simple roi/s. A mil tiit in struct lire <nid position oii(doi/oti.s to the second dorsal. Ventral fins of 

 normal striirtnre and set far apart, Itiif JKf/nlar, and (jeneridl// lonjp'r and' broader than the pcctorid fins. Pseiidn- 

 hranehifC j)resent. Si.r lirancliioste<pd rai/s. .{ir-bladder and /)f/loric upjioidofjcs nvrntini/. Xo osseoKs connexion 



between the suborbital rinfi and the ))reopereulum. 



BoNAi'AiirK defined and established this familv" as 

 a snl)famil\' (Callionipnini) of the Gobioids, and V.v- 

 LENciENNES made the suggestion'' afterwards adopted by 

 Richardson", when he gave the familv the above name. 

 It is probably a, question of no great importance \vhether 

 we follow CuviKR and Gunther, and retain the Drago- 

 nets within the Gobioid family, or place them as a 

 distinct family beside the latter. Like the Gobies they 

 are bottom-tishes, with the form of the body still better 

 adapted to their maimer of life, depressed as it is, 

 sometimes almost to the liase of the caudal fin. In 

 addition to the common character which lies in the 

 structure of the first dorsal fin, with its flexible rays 

 and short, hut sometimes remarkably high shape the 

 resemblance between the Dragonets and the Gobies is | 



fnrthei' enhanced, in particular, h\- tlie similarity of 

 their external sexual characters. Distinctive characters 

 foi' these families ai-e, however, not wanting. In the 

 Dragonets the mouth admits of protrusion; and the 

 jugular ventral fins are set so far apart that the pos- 

 terior part of their membrane pi'ojects upwards along 

 the front of the base of the pectoral fins. 



The family of tiie Dragonets is not rich in forms. 

 About 30 species are known, all hut one, Callionymus 

 Agassizii, which, during the voyages of the American 

 steamer "Blake" between 1877 and 1880, was found at 

 a depth of .340 fathoms in the Gulf of Mexico'', be- 

 longing to the Eastern Hemisphere. By far the greater 

 part of them belong to the genus 



CALLIONYMUS. 



Bodij naked, scales ((pj)earinf/, in. some cases onl//. on the lateral line. Small, cardiform teeth on the intenna.rillari/ 

 bones and in the loa-er jaa\ The hurer jiosterior corner of tlie preoperealnm prolonfp'il into a .spinous point, 

 (rill-openings small, sometimes shrank into ta'o, r(ni)id foramina, one on each side of the occipiif. Vertehrx about 20'. 



The ancient writers did im\ know tiiis fish, to lionijmas, derived from Ari.stotle'', wiio used it, how- 

 which LiNN.EUS-'' has applied the generic name of (.'al- ever, according to Athex.eus and Puxy, as a synonym 



" See his, 183.3, p. 11 DO. 



'' Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. XII, \<. 2G2. 

 ' Zool. Ereb., Terr., 11, 2 {IchthyoL). Method. Li.sl, p. IV. 

 •' Bull. Mils. Conip. Zool., Harv. Coll., Mass., vol. XV, p. 29, tig. 207. 

 ' From 19 to 21. 



■'' i>ij/!t. Nat., ed. X, toil). I, p. 249. 



V From .\ristoti,e we only learn that Ku'UuiuVli.tOQ (fair-named) was a slioretisli with a large gall-bhulder. In the Dragonets the 

 gall-bladdi-r is small, and it seems, tljereforo, improbable that tlie name was originally applied to them. 



