472 PISCES (OSSEI) MALACOPT. [CYCLOPTERUS. 



Power of adhesion, by means of the ventral disk, very great. Var. ft was 

 taken near Bangor in Caernarvonshire, in 1797, and sent to Shaw by 

 Mr. Hugh Davies of that place. It measured only six inches in length. 

 Obs. The Lumpus gibbosus of Willughby * (Cyclopt. pyramidatus, 

 Shawt), characterized by a pyramidal hump on the back, and said to 

 be found in the Scotch seas, owes its origin, in the opinion of Cuvier, 

 to a badly-stuffed specimen of the present species. 



(2. LIPARIS, Arted.) 



160. C. Liparis 9 Linn. (Common Sea-Snail.) Dorsal 

 and anal fins united to the caudal. 



C. Liparis, Linn. Syst. Nat. torn. i. p. 414. Block, Ichth. pi. 123. 

 f. 3. Don. Brit. Fish. vol. n. pi. 47. Turt. Brit. Faun. p. 115. 

 Liparis nostras, Will. Hist. Pise. App. p. 17. tab. H. 6. fig. 1. 

 Liparis vulgaris, Flem. Brit. An. p. 190. Unctuous Sucker, Penn. 

 Brit. Zool. vol. in. p. 135. pi. 21. no. 58. Id. (Edit. 1812.) vol. in. 

 p. 179. pi. 24. 



LENGTH. From three to five inches. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Body elongated, thick and rounded anteriorly, but 

 much compressed behind : belly very protuberant : head large, broad, a 

 little depressed in front, and somewhat inflated about the gills ; its length 

 contained about four times and a half in the entire length : snout blunt 

 and rounded: mouth moderately large; upper lip with two short cirri: 

 in each jaw a band of rasp-like teeth: tongue thick and fleshy: eyes 

 small, and rather high on the cheeks : nostrils double : gill-opening very 

 small ; the opercle produced behind into a cartilaginous spine : head and 

 body every-where covered with a smooth, soft, naked, unctuous, semi- 

 transparent, skin : dorsal fin commencing a little behind the nape, and 

 extending to the base of the caudal, with which it is just united; rays 

 slender and simple, the anterior ones rather shorter than those which 

 follow, but on the whole the rays nearly of a length : anal commencing 

 at about half the length of the body, and also uniting to the caudal, but 

 at a point beyond that at which the dorsal terminates : caudal slightly 

 rounded: pectorals large, extending downwards and forwards to unite 

 under the throat; two or three rays, just at the turn of the fin beneath 

 the body, very much elongated, and considerably produced beyond those 

 on each side of them : ventral disk concave, and nearly circular ; placed 

 on the throat, and partly encircled by the pectorals ; the circumference 

 set with twelve or thirteen flattened tubercles, the central portion im- 

 pressed with four or five curved lines branching out on each side of 

 a longitudinal diameter: 



D. 36; A. 26; C. 12 ; P. 32|. 



(Colours.) "Pale brown, sometimes finely streaked with darker brown." 

 PENN. In a variety, met with by Donovan, " the head and body were 

 strongly marked with longitudinal streaks and waves of white, edged with 

 blue, and disposed on a ground of testaceous or rather chestnut-colour." 

 It is observed by this last author, that this species " differs very consider- 

 ably in colour at different seasons of the year, as well as in its various 

 stages of growth : small specimens have occurred in which the sides and 

 belly were white ; in some pale yellow, and in others rosy ; the sides of 

 the head usually partaking of the same tints as those of the body." 



* Hist. Pise. p. 209. tab. N. 10. fig. 2. 



t Gen. Zool. vol. v. part ii. p. 390. pi. 167. 



^ The above fin-ray formula is from Donovan. 



