G2 THE SEA-SIDE AND AQUARIUM. 



watched them at their operations, I could not resist 

 a smile, as the anecdote which Hugh Miller narrates 

 in his " Schools and Schoolmasters " passed through 

 my mind, wherein he tells his readers, that some wags 

 of Cromarty having become possessed of an eagle, 

 stripped it of its feathers, and presented it to an old 

 woman as " a great goose, the gift of a gentleman." 

 Poor Dribble Drone (the old woman's name) accepted 

 the gift with great delight, and when asked some 

 time after how she had relished the bird, she replied 

 that it was " unco siveet ! but, oh, teuch ! teuch ! " 

 And this seemed to be the opinion of the fishes, for 

 although they exerted themselves laboriously to 

 masticate their prize, they did not succeed in making 

 much impression upon it; it being, as I thought, 

 "unco sweet, but, oh, teuch ! teuch !" 



The Goby (Gobius unipunctatus), or, as it is popu- 

 larly termed, One-spotted Goby, is a frequent occupant 

 of the same pool with the Blenny. Its most charac- 

 teristic distinction is the peculiar spot which appears 

 upon its dorsal fin. When full grown it is much of 

 the same length with the Blenny. 



The Goby possesses the remarkable power of 

 affixing itself to objects by means of a sucker, formed 

 from the junction of its ventral fins. Unless the 

 young zoologist keep this peculiarity in mind, he 

 will frequently experience the chagrin consequent 

 upon an unsuccessful hunt after any coveted object 

 for the Aquarium. The tedious search that the Goby 

 frequently demands is not only trying to one's 



