DR. RICHARDSON'S DESCRIPTION OF AUSTRALIAN FISH. • 129 



brane of the dorsal fin is largely attached to the caudal, but the anal is quite distinct : 

 all the rays of the caudal are simple, the extreme one on each side being shorter. 



Dimensions. — The figure is of the natural size, and carefully measured in all its pro- 

 portions. 



Blennius tasmanianus, Lempriere's Blenny. 



Bl. tasmanianus, Rich., Zool. Proceed. June 23, 1839. 



El. capite magna, sphceroideo, tentaculo superciliari vix diametrum orbitm aquante, 



apice bifida,; pinnd darsi medio emarginatd, antice arcuatd ; aculeo primo octa- 



vum aquante, intermediis gradatim longiaribus ; dentibus caninis. 



This Blenny, the first that has been brought from Van Diemen's Land, is nearly 



connected by external form with Blennius gatturigine and fucorum, differing from them 



principally in the proportions of parts. 



It has a compressed, elongated shape, diminishing both in height and thickness from 

 the head backwards, and more suddenly behind the vent. The height of the body at 

 the pectorals is equal to one quarter of the total length, and the thickness at the same 

 place is less than two-thirds of the height. The head has a compressed, sphaeroidal 

 form as in gatturigine, but it is larger and rather more gibbous on the forehead, parti- 

 cularly at the orbit, which projects a little in the profile. Laterally, the head is most 

 prominent at the cheeks and preoperculum, its diameter there being equal to its length, 

 or to two-thirds of its height, and greater than the thickness of the body. The pre- 

 operculum forms an arc of a circle in its outline, and the breadth of the operculum, in- 

 cluding its membranous edging, is equal to two-sevenths of the length of the head. 

 There is a semicircular notch in the bone, which is filled by membrane in the recent 

 fish, nearly as is represented in the figure of B. palmicornis in the ' Histoire des Pois- 

 sons.' The teeth, as in others of the genus, are linear, compressed and obtuse, form- 

 ing in each jaw a close, semicircular, even row ; each series being terminated at both 

 ends by an acute, awl-shaped and slightly curv-^ed canine tooth. In the larger of our 

 specimens there are thirty-four teeth in the upper jaw and thirty in the lower, exclusive 

 of the canines ; the smaller specimen has six fewer in each series. The superciliary fila- 

 ment is scarcely equal in length to the diameter of the orbit, is thickish at the base, 

 tapers upwards, and ends in two short thread-like tips of unequal lengths. 

 Rays.—V. 14 ; D. 12|17 or 18 ; A. 21 ; V. 2 ; C. 14. 



The dorsal fin, commencing over the posterior edge of the preoperculum, terminates 

 exactly at the base of the caudal, but has no membranous connexion with that fin. 

 There is a depression or notch at the junction of the spinous with the articulated part 

 of the dorsal, and the former has an arched form, owing partly to the curvature of the 

 back, and partly to the rays lengthening slightly from the first to the fourth. The eighth 

 is about equal to the first, and the following four are successively shorter, contributing 

 to produce the notch. The fourth articulated ray is also the longest, exceeding the 



VOL. Itl. PART I. s 



