132 



Ctenoid Acantiiopteues.- 



-FISHES.- 



-GOBIOIDS. 



tlioro is a recumbent spine in front of the dorsal ; and 

 in several the sides of the tail are armed hy one or 

 more lancet-shaped thorns. The scales are cycloid ; 

 and the branchiostcgals, usually five in number, arc 

 sometimes only four. 



The genera are Amphncantlius^ which is remaik.nhle for having 

 tlie hist ray of the ventrals spinous, as well as the first one; 

 Aranlhiirus; Naseus ; Prionm-us; Axinurus ; Priodon; and 

 Ktris. 



They arc phytophagous fishes, all of them strangers 

 to the European seas. A Seychelle species is known 

 locally by the name of the "Coral Shoemaker." 



r.wilLY XX.— AULOSTOMIDANS {Auhsiomlda^. 

 Plate 10, fig. 40, 50. 



In this group the face is a prolonged tube, into 

 whose construction there enter the nasal, vomer, pre- 

 operculum, interoperculum, pterygoids, and tympanies; 

 the small mouth, formed as usual of the premaxillai-ies, 

 maxillaries, palatines, and mandible, being suspended 

 at the proximal end of the tube. The intestines have 

 no remarkable dilatations, and few or no pyloric Cfeca ; 

 and the ribs are either short or wholly absent. The 

 branchiostcgals are few, and an air-bladder is present. 

 In form the body varies considerably, from long and 

 slender to short, high, and compressed. It is scaly, 

 and in some of the family the scales are mixed with 

 radiated plates. The dorsals are two in some genera, 

 single in others, and are preceded by strong spines or 

 bony shields; or they arc without that kind of arma- 

 ture. The anal is opposed to the soft dorsal ; and the 

 caudal, which is distinct from them, has in some a 

 lung central filament. 



The p;enera are — Flstukiria ; Avlosffnna ; Poli/pterichlhi/s 

 ( Ulet'kcr) ; Siphonostoma (Richardson) ; CentrUcus ; and 

 AiiiphlsUe. 



They are named vulgarly Tobacco-pipe fishes,' or 

 Biiuchcs-en-Jluic, and in Germany liijlirenmaulcr. 

 The Trumpet-fish or Sea-snipe [Ccntriscus scoIojjgx) 

 is the only species that has been discovered in the Bri- 

 tish seas, but is so rare that only six examples are 

 known to have been taken on our coasts. 



Family XXI.— CEPOLIDS {Ccpohr,hv)—'DAiiD- 

 FisiiES. — Plate 11, fig. 55. 



These are ribbon-shaped or stiletto-furmed fishes, 

 possessing an anal, a pouitcd caudal, and a long dorsal ; 

 with small scales, and a medium-sized non-])rotractile 

 mouth, which is armed with slender, acute teeth. The 

 eyes are large or middle-sized, the stomach retort- 

 shaped, and tlie pancreatic caica (unlike those of the 

 Scombcroids) are neither numerous nor complicated. 



The gcnora arc — Ccpola; LnpJioles ; Krohnius (Cocco) ; 

 Bibrimhi (id.) ; and Pcluri, 



The only British species resembles the Gobioid 

 genus Amhbjopus in general aspect, and is rare in 

 iirdinary seasons ; but in some years it is taken abun- 

 dantly on the Devonshire coasts, where it is called the 

 lied Band-fish [Ci'pola ruhcscem). Species of the 



same genus are known in the Mediterranean by the 

 names of Rouyeole, Calcrjiiairis, Cavagero, Frcgrjin, 

 and Luuria. 



F.\MiLY XXII.— GOBIOIDS [Guhiidcv). 

 Plate 12, fig. 59. 



In this family the most characteristic genera have 

 the ventrals united on the belly behind the pectorals 

 into an oblique, funnel-shaped fin, by continuous mem- 

 brane, which not only joins the branching rays of the 

 two fins together, but is also stretched across in front 

 from one spine to the other, so as to form the proxi- 

 mal lip of the funnel. Some of the genera, however, 

 have distinct ventrals, and the family is characterized 

 chiefly by the simple rays of the dorsal being slender, 

 flexible, and not pmigent, and by tlie simplicity of the 

 intestinal canal, which has but very slight dilatations in 

 its course, no crecal protuberance of the stcmach, and 

 no pancreatic ca>ca. Many have a conical papilla 

 behind tlie vent at the origin of the efferent duct of 

 the reproductive organs. The head is not armed hy 

 serratures or sharp points, but the scales are often 

 pectinated or strongly ciliated. Considerable variety 

 exists in the form of the dorsal, which is sometimes 

 single, sometimes double ; and the caudal is in some 

 species pointed, and united to the dorsal and anal ; 

 in others distinct and truncated, rounded, or crescentic. 

 The teeth are very various. The branchiostcgals arc 

 five in number. 



The genera arc — Gohlus; Cliiennjohim (Gill); Lcpido- 

 (jnjjius (id.); Eiicfcnof/obius (id.); Gobiuulcs; Apocrj/pfcs ^ 

 Chaturichthys (Rich.ardson) ; Tri/jtmic/ien ; Amb/i/npus; Sic//- 

 d'mvi ; Tridentigcr (Gili) ; Trueuophorus (id.) ; Pa-iopltlhul- 

 mus ; Buleophtliahnvs. 



The British species are the Black Goby (Gohiii.'; 

 niger) ; the Double-spotted Goby ((?. nithenK]parrl) ; 

 the Freckled Goby ((?. miimtus) ; the Cne- spotted 

 Goby (Gr. unipunckUus) ; the Slender Goby ((?. gra- 

 cilis) ; and the White Goby ((?. alhiis). None of 

 them are of the slightest importance in an economical 

 point of view. The Gobies are not the fishes named 

 Kobios by Aristotle, often produced at feasts, since 

 that naturalist describes these as possessed of numer- 

 ous pancreatic ca:ca. Cuvier was inclined to believe 

 that Phycis {Plntlis or Ptiuca) was the Greek name 

 for one of the Mediterranean Gobies, and Aristotle is 

 quoted as describing the Pliulis to be a littoral fish, 

 and the only marine one wdiich constructs a nest of 

 leaves, wherein it deposits eggs. Now Olivi reports 

 that a male Goby of that sea, which is also the first- 

 named of our British species, builds a nest of sea- 

 weeds and zoBtera, and after the female has there 

 placed her eggs, watches over the deposit during the 

 period of hatching, extending his supervision to the 

 young until they are able to shift for themselves. 

 Many members of the family pass a part of the day on 

 sands left wet by the ebbing tide, hunting insects and 

 minute crustaceans, and seemingly carrying on the 

 ox3'genation of the blood by the direct action of the 

 atmospheric air on the moist gills. Many of these 

 fishes, perhaps most of them, can move their eyes 

 separately, like a chameleon, turning one upwards and 



