94 



THE CORNISH SUCKER. 



The speckled or spotted goby is not only common 

 on all our sandy shores, where it is constantly taken by 

 the shrimpers, but is also plentiful in the Thames, where 

 it is know by the name of Polewig, or Polly-bait. They 

 deUght to bask in shallow pools, where, when motionless, 

 it is difficult to detect them, their backs being precisely 

 the colour of the sand on which they rest. 



BLACK GOBY, ROCK GOBY {Gohitis uiger). 



In Land and Wafpv, March 20, 1875,' Mr. Henry Lee 

 thus describes the Cornish Sucker : — 



" I have to note this week the arrival at the Brighton 

 Aquarium, from St; Austell, of twenty-four * sucking 



coKNiSH sccKER [Lepadogastcr cormibiensis). 



fish ' of the species known as the ' Cornish sucker ' 

 {Lepadofjaster gouanil). It is one of the family named 

 by Cuvier the * Discoboli,' because in some members 

 of it, on the under surface of the body, the united rays 

 of the ventral fins form a flattened disc like the ancient 

 quoit. The middle portion of the disc is flexible, and 

 capable of retraction or the contrary; so that when the 



