GOBIES. 



485 



body, each plate with a spine in the centre. Also of this 

 species the young are naked, the plates making only gradu- 



Fig. 219. — Young of CyclojDterus spiuosus, from the Arctic Oceau, natural size. 



ally their appearance, in the form of groups of tubercles. 

 Their development is irregular, as young specimens of the 

 same size may be entirely naked or tubercular. This species 

 ranges beyond the 81° lat. N. 



LiPARis. — Body sub-cylindrical, enveloped in a more or less 

 loose naked skin ; head broad, obtuse. The infraorbital bone is 

 styliform posteriorly, extending backwards to the margin of the 

 pra?operculum. One dorsal fin, with feeble flexible rays. Yilli- 

 form teeth in the jaws, none on the palate. 



Small fishes from the northern coasts of the temperate 

 zone, ranging beyond the arctic circle. Eight species are 

 known, of which two {L. lineatus and L. montcifjui) occur on 



9 



the British coasts. 



Second Faimily — Gobiid^. 



Body elongate, naked or scahj. Teeth (jenerallij small, 

 sometimes with canines. The spinous dorsal fin, or jjortion of 

 the dorsal fin, is the less developed, and composed of fiexihle 

 spines ; anal similarly developed as the soft dorsal. Sometimes 

 the ventrals are united into a disk. Gill-opening more or less 

 narroio, the gill-mcmhrancs hcing cdtaehed to the isthmus. 



Small carnivorous littoral fishes, many of which have 

 become acclimatised in fresh water. They are very abundant 

 with regard to species as well as individuals, and found on or 



