BLACK GOBY. 283 



dashes and square clouds of rust-red, which hue also 

 adorns the chin and the pectorals. Such, then, is the 

 portrait of this, our second capture ; and now to work 

 again. 



Presently, a third appears. This time an imp, 

 with a bluff, cod-like head, and as black as ink, turns 

 up. He, too, shoots hither and thither, but with 

 an energy peculiarly his own, as different from the 

 splashing vehemence of the Tompot as from the 

 agile activity of the Gunnel. We catch him without 

 any difficulty, and in we pop him into the already 

 occupied jar. Kather a risk we run, to be sure, in 

 crowding three such creatures as fishes, and of this 

 size too, into one bottle ; but necessitas non legem ; 

 our other jars are already filled with other tilings, 

 and for half an hour, till we can turn them out at 

 home, perhaps they may manage. They do not 

 seem very delicate in constitution, all of them readily 

 accommodating themselves to captivity, and very 

 amusing they are there. 



But we have not yet recognised the stranger. I 

 said he was black as ink. No, he is not. He is of 

 a dusky gray, or ashy hue, very prettily marked all 

 over, with a warm sepia-tint disposed in irregular 

 wavy bands, which are dappled or clouded; and 

 which, upon the dorsal, pectoral, and caudal fins, are 

 arranged very close to each other, and are particu- 

 larly elegant. The front dorsal, for there are two, 

 has its upper half of a delicate pale straw colour, into 

 which the dark gray hue runs up in points between 



