BLENNIIDA. — LXXXIII. 157 
No pyloric ceca or air-bladder. Vertebree about 25. Small, car- 
nivorous fishes, creeping about on sea-bottoms after the fashion of 
the Darters, a group which the Gobies much resemble. Genera 70; 
species about 400, chiefly of tropical seas and ponds. South of 
Cape Hatteras a multitude of species are found, but only one is at 
all common N. of that point. 
a. Ventral fins united; dorsals separate, free from caudal. (Gobiine.) 
6. Ventral disk not adnate to belly; teeth simple; shoulder girdle without 
fleshy processes. 
c. Body with ctenoid scales; dorsalspines6. . . . . Gostus, 203. 
cc. Body with small, cycloid scales ; dorsal spines 7 or 8. 
Microcopstvs, 204. 
ecc. Body entirely naked... . . . . =... «. GOBIOSOMA, 205. 
203. GOBIUS (Artedi) Linneus. (The old name, from cafés, 
gudgeon. ) 
434. G. soporator Cuv. & Val. Olivaceous, dotted. CC. short. 
Head 3; depth 42. D. VI-1,9. A.I, 8. Scales 35-13. L. 6. 
Tropics; N. to Carolina. (Lat., sleeper.) 
204. MICROGOBIUS Poey. (jutxpds, small; Gobius.) 
435. M. eulepis Kigenmann & Eigenmann. Yellowish, dotted; 
1st D. with black spot. Head 4; depth 5}. D. VIT-15. A. 16. 
Scales 50-14. L. 2. Fortress Monroe. (ed, well; Aezis, scale.) 
205. GOBISOMA Girard. (Gobius; cdma, body.) 
436. G. bosci (Lacépéde). Body moderately chubby; cheeks 
tumid. Olive with darker cross-shades. Head 31; depth 5 to 6. 
D. VI[-14. A.10. L. 2}. Cape Cod to S.C. (To M. Bose, 
French consul at Charleston.) 
Famity LXXXITI. BLENNIIDA. (Tue Bienntss.) 
Body oblong or variously elongate, naked, or covered with smooth 
scales; teeth well developed; suborbital ring without “stay”; D. 
long, continuous, or divided; the anterior portion, and sometimes 
the whole fin of spines, either stiff or flexible; anal long; V. jugu- 
lar, few rayed or wanting; C. present; tail not isocercal; pseudo- 
branchia present; air-bladder usually wanting. Vert. 30 to 100. 
Genera 50; species nearly 300, a varied group mostly inhabiting 
shallow sea-bottoms and rock-pools. A few are ovoviviparous. 
(Blennius, ancient name, from Bd¢evva, slime.) 
a. Teeth long, slender, curved, like comb-teeth, in front of jaws only ; body 
naked ; soft rays forming about half of D.; V. well developed. Vertebrzx 
30 to 40. Carnivorous, oviparous, tropical. (Blenniine.) 
b. Gill membranes broadly united to the isthmus. 
d. Mouth large; head pointed; no canines. . . . CHASMODEs, 206. 
dd. Mouth small, the head blunt in profile. 
