GOBIUS SEMILUNARIS. 61 



Gohius punclatissimus (Canestrini) is found near Bologna, at Mantua, 

 Modena, and Venice. The head is one-quarter of the length, and is equal 

 to the height. The diameter of the eye is one-third of the length of the 

 head. The body is marbled with long brown spots, extending transversely. 

 There is a triangular black spot at the base of the tail. The female when 

 full of eggs has the body remarkably deep. The ventral and anal fins 

 are black. There are one or two blue spots on the last rays of the dorsal 

 fin. The second dorsal and anal fins are less high in the male than in the 

 female. There are thirty vertebrae. 



Among the species which are found in Russia may be mentioned G. 

 marmoratus (Pallas), coming up the rivers which flow into the Black Sea and 

 the Caspian ; G. lugens (Nordmann), in the River Kodar, which falls into the 

 Black Sea; G. macropus (Filippi), in Lake Paleostom, near the Black Sea; 

 G. constructor (Nordmann), in small rivers which flow into the Caspian; 

 G. melanostomus (Pallas), which goes far up the Dniester, Dnieper, and 

 Volga ; G. lacteus is a Dniester species ; G. flnviatilis (Pallas) similarly 

 ascends the rivers which fall into the Black Sea, Sea of Azov, and Caspian ; 

 Gobius kessleri (Giinther) enters the mouths of the Black Sea and Caspian 

 rivers ; G. gymnotrachelus (Kessler) is found in the Dniester, Bug, and 

 Dnieper ; G. burmeisteri at the mouth of the River Rion, in Georgia. 



Gobius semilunaris (HECKEL). 



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1 D. 6, 2 D. 18, A. 14. Scales : lateral line 3437. 



This species has no characters of form to distinguish it from the other 

 Gobies. The body is six times as long as high at the first dorsal fin, and ten 

 times as long as high in front of the caudal fin. 



The head has a conical shape, and is two-ninths the length of the fish. 

 The mouth is small, and its cleft extends back only to the nasal aper- 

 tures. The jaws are of equal length, and armed with a small band of short 

 teeth. The nares are midway between the eyes and the end of the nose. 

 The eyes are near together, high up in the anterior half of the head, and 

 separated by an orbital diameter from the snout. The operculum and pre- 

 operculum are rounded, and covered by a thick naked skin. There are five 

 branchiostegal rays, which are embedded in the edge of the skin of the throat. 



The pectoral fin is broad, and its point is rounded; it extends back 

 to the beginning of the second dorsal. It consists of thirteen or fourteen 

 rays, of which the fourth and fifth are jointed at their extremities. 

 The ventral fins are below the pectorals,, and in contact with each other, 



