XII. 



A History of the Fishes of Massachusetts. 

 BY DAVID HUMPHREYS STOKER, M. D., A. A. S. 



(Continued from page 168.) 



FAMILY VIII. GOBID^E. 



Body more or less elongated. Scales small or entirely wanting. The spines of the 

 dorsal fin slender and flexible. Branchial aperture small. Ventrals, when present, 

 placed in advance of the pectorals. Many viviparous. 



GENUS I. BLENNIUS, Cuv. 



Head rounded and blunt; body smooth, unctuous, compressed; a single elongated 

 dorsal fin ; ventral fins placed before the pectorals, and containing generally but two 

 rays, united at their base ; teeth slender, in a single row. 



BLENNIUS SERPENTINUS, Storer. 

 The Snake-shaped Blenny. 



(PLATE XVII. FIG. 1.) 

 Blennlus serpentinus, STOKER, Proceedings of Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., in. p. 30, April. 1848. 



Color. Upper part and sides, of a yellowish-brown, with intervening colorless 

 spaces. Abdomen white. The dorsal fins are brownish, with broad, oblique, white 

 bands. Pectorals white, the outer ray brownish. Anal and caudal white with a tinge 

 of yellow. Ventrals white. 



VOL. V. NEW SERIES. 36 



