110 VERTEBRATA. PISCES. 



mouth into the soft mud ; and, for selecting it, the 

 lips appear to be furnished with exquisite sensi- 

 bility of taste. It is indeed the only fish of which 

 I am able to express my belief that it usually selects 

 for food nothing that has life ; although it sometimes 

 swallows the common sand-worm. Its good success 

 in escaping the hook, commonly proceeds from its 

 care not to swallow a particle of any large or hard sub- 

 stance ; to avoid which, it repeatedly receives the 

 bait into its mouth and rejects it ; so that when 

 hooked, it is in the lips, from which the weight and 

 struggles of the fish often deliver it. It is most 

 readily taken with bait formed of the fat entrails of 

 a fish, or cabbage boiled in broth." * 



FAM. XII. GOBlAD^E.f 



In this family, the dorsal has thin and flexible 

 spines, and there is no air bladder. The genera are 

 usually invested with a slimy secretion. 



Blennius^ the Blenny. 



The narrow, two-rayed ventrals, situated in front 

 of the pectorals, well distinguish this genus; added 

 to which, the head is rounded and abrupt; the 

 dorsals united into one ; the body smooth and slimy. 

 Some of the species, as the Viviparous Blenny, (B. 



* Br. Fishes, i. p. 202. 



f K^/3/5j, kobios, the Greek name of some undetermined fish. 



BXsvva, blenna^ mucus. 



