112 



U. S. p. R. R. EXP. AND SURTEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 



dorsal to the anterior margin of the soft portion of the anal ; it tapers somewhat downwards and 

 meets its fellow of the opposite side. A fifth band, slightly convex posteriorly, may be observed 

 under the posterior half of the soft dorsal and covering the posterior region of the body, properly 

 so called. Finally, a sixth band occupies the caudal region near the insertion of the caudal fin. 

 The fins are of a dark greyish hue, the anal and ventrals being rather blackish, and the caudal 

 and pectorals olivaceous. 



This species is closely allied to E. faher of our Atlantic coast, from which it may be distin- 

 guished by the outline of the vertical fins chiefly. 



List of specimens. 



Family BLENNIDAE, B o n a p . 



The family of Blennioids, as it now stands in the system, offers a great variety of forms or 

 outline in their body, from a rounded and sub-fusiform shape to an elongated, taenioid, and 

 very much compressed one. The body is scaly in some genera ; scaleless in others. The scales, 

 when they exist, are either cycloid or ctenoid in structure. The fins present, likewise, a great 

 diversity of structure and aspects adapted to the various forms which the body assumes. 



The ventrals, when present, are separated from one another, and situated in advance of the 

 base of the pectorals. In some genera these fins are quite rudimentary^ whilst in others they are 

 altogether wanting. The pseudobranchiae are gill-like and conspicuous. There are no pyloric 

 appendages to the intestine, and but few genera exhibit a swimming or air bladder, which 

 is absent in the great majority. Many, also, are provided with upapilla genilalis, which, however, 

 may be observed in other families, such as the Gobioids, Gadoids, and Cyprinodonts. 



Syk. — Blcnnidia, Rafin. Anal, of Nat. 1815. 



BUnnioides, Risso, Hist. nat. Europ. mirid. Ill, 182G, 229. 

 Bknnidae, Bonap. Syn. Vort. Syst. 1837. 



The family now under consideration is composed of fishes of small and even of diminutive 

 size to but few exceptions, the most striking of which is the wolf fish, Anarrhiehas lupus, 

 which is the largest of the group. 



But, whether large or small, they are never made an object of trade, since neither of them 

 are esculent fishes. On the contrary, they are generally repulsive to fishermen and people at 

 large, owing, undoubtedly, to the quantity of mucous with which their body is usually covered. 

 Some of them are provided with cutaneous flaps or tufts about the orbits, and when the skin is 

 scaleless it has quite a flabby appearance. 



