15G CATALOGUE OF FtSII. 



7. Gymnklis IMDKHBIS. 



? Ophidimn imberbe, Linn. 'No. Q, ; Gmelin, 1 li7 ; Montag. Won. 



Mem. i. 05, pi. 4, f. 2 ; Yarrell, 412. 

 Cepolopliis JMoutgai, Kaup. 



Length about three inches; head round and blunt. Dorsal fin 

 cominencing at the base of the pectorals. Anus nearly in the 

 middle. Colour purplish brown, and along the root of the pectoral 

 fill there are ten small, bluish-white, regularly-placed spots, which 

 however cannot be seen without the aid of a lens, and are a])pa- 

 rently peculiar to the young. Pectoral fins pale and caudal yellow- 

 ish. P. 11 ; D. 77 ; A. 44 ; C. 18 or 20 (according to Montagu). 



8. Gymnelis viuiDis, Rheinhardt. 



Ophidium viride, Fahr. Faun. Gr'oenl. J 48, No. 99; Gmel. 1147. 

 Gymnelis viridis, lieinh. I. sujna cit. No. 53, p. 49. ? Richards. 



Belch. Voy. ii. 307, pi. xxix. f. 1-3. Idem, pi. xx., f. 1-2. Var. 



unimaculala; ? Kroyer, Voy. de Gaimard. in Scand., varietaics 



jihircc (?). 

 Cepholophis viride, Kaup, MS. 



Diayn. Anus situated towards the end of the proximal third part 

 of the length of the body. 



Descr. Head less round, more oval, and its length comprised 

 six or seven times in the total length. Dorsal fin beginning at the 

 tips of the pectorals. Body terminating in a moderately blunt tail, 

 but the caudal fin is less fully developed than that of the preceding 

 species. Colour green, with numerous fine blackish points which 

 cannot be seen by the naked eye. 



Total length 583 in. 



liCngth to the anus ....... 209 ,, 



To the beginning of the dorsal fin . . . .1 "22 ,, 



Ijongth of head to the gill-opening .... 0'87 „ 



P. 11 ; D. 87 ; A. 08 ; C. 10 = 105 vertical rays, (llichardson 

 gives precisely the same number of rays in the vertical ihis, without 

 distinguishing the caudal rays from the others. Keinhardt reckons 

 108 vertical lays.) 



The Paris Museum possesses a specumen received from Professor 

 lifiuhardl. On it 1 have fouiuhd the generic character, since I 

 know G. imhi'vliin only through Yarrell's description and ligure. 

 Pennant (in iJritish Zoology, pi. 29,) gives a figure named on the 

 plate " Peardless Ophidium," but which is copied from Schneider, 

 who terms it Oph. chincnse. It difTers from the drawing of Mon- 

 tagu in the dorsal fiu commencing further back, and in the shape 

 of the head, Kafinesque also (pi. 4, f. 4) gives a sketch of an Oph. 

 punctatum, which has a more acutely tapering tail than Pennant's 

 figure. Whether these constitute two distinct species, or whether 

 they belong to the same species, must be decided hereafter, since 



