162 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



(vol. i., p. 189) : — " There appear to be only three specitic 

 forms, and these are subject to almost endless modifications 

 as to colour. They may be recognised as follows : — 



" A. Dorsal fi)i continuous with the caudal. 



a. Dorsal fin with more than ten rays, . . L. Gouanii. 



" B. Dorsal fin not continued on to the caudal. 



a. Dorsal fin with more than ten rays (14-16), . L. Decandolii. 



b. Dorsal fin with less than eight rays (5-7), . L. bimaciUatas." 



Saville Kent, in his "British Marine and Freshwater 

 Fishes," ^ refers to a form which he regards as a fourth 

 British species of the genus, a type which has been regarded 

 by Couch and others as a variety of L. limacidatus. It 

 occurs in the Channel Islands, and also on the Devonshire 

 and Cornish coasts. I am not aware that Saville Kent has 

 given a detailed diagnosis of his species, and the following 

 characters are collected from the general account of the 

 genus in the work already referred to (pp. 54-56) : — 



Lepadogaster Couchii, Saville Kent. — General ground 

 colour variable; the two lateral ocelli, distinctive of L. 

 himaculatus, are never developed, "but in lieu of this a 

 single very conspicuous dark-coloured streak is developed 

 along each side of the head, the eye being stationed immedi- 

 ately in its centre and interrupting it at this point. . . . 

 Important structural differences are found to exist in the 

 composition of the dorsal, anal, and caudal fins, and more 

 especially in that of the ventral acetabulum. Finally, it is 

 found to affect a different habitat, for while L. himacidatus is 

 to be obtained only with the aid of the dredge at some little 

 distance from the shore, the form here introduced is a strictly 

 littoral species, obtainable beneath stones in the rock-pools at 

 all ordinary ebb-tides." It is much to be regretted that the 

 structural differences referred to have not been more precisely 

 stated. 



In my endeavours to identify the specimens of Lepado- 

 gastcr which I have from time to time obtained on the west 



^ Handbook issued in connection with ,the International Fisheries Ex- 

 hibition, London, 1883. 



