OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 127 



anterior one often abnormally prolonged its membrane 

 supported with from four to seven flexible spines ; 

 branchiostegal rays, five or six in number ; air-bladder 

 absent. 



The Dragonets, classed with the Gobies by some autho- 

 rities, but differing from them in the normal, separated 

 condition of their ventral fins, are distinguished by the 

 same literal habits, one species, the gemmeous Dragonet or 

 Yellow Skulpin (Callionymus fyra), No. 66, being not 

 uncommon on the flat, sandy shores of the south-east coast. 

 The male is remarkable not only for its brilliant colouration 

 but also for the extraordinary development of the anterior 





FIG. II. DRAGONET (Callionymus lyra). 



dorsal fin, the first ray of which in the adult fish reaches, 

 when folded back, from its origin a little behind the head 

 to the base of the tail, the fin when erected bearing no slight 

 resemblance to the narrow lateen sail of an Oriental fishing- 

 yawl. The colour of the body in the same fish is orange 

 or yellowish, diversified with numerous longitudinal stripes, 

 spots and markings of blue and lilac, a similar variegation 

 extending to the dorsal fins. At the breeding season these 

 colours are yet more highly intensified, the darker shades 

 developing to deep ultramarine and violet, reflecting a 

 metallic sheen. The female, which is dressed in paler tints 

 of russet-brown, and is devoid of the prolonged dorsal fin 



