risHi:s OF THi: oems gouius. 41 



species bv various authoivs vaiy to a consiclei'able extent and thiit 

 the fish described under this iiiuiie by Collett* does not tally 

 with the said Gob}^ of Roscoff on which he based his observations, 

 the number of scales along the lateral line in his specimens being 

 about 45, those of the Noi-wegian fisli about 60. Further that 

 Collett's formula for the fin-rays- I). 6/11-12. A. 11— diflfers 

 slightly from that of the Roscoff fish, which he gives as : D. 6/8 

 10. A. 8-10. 



During a stay at Roscoft' last summer I collected a number of 

 specimens of the Goby describetl by Guitel luider the name of 

 G. minutits and also fouiul thei'e another Goby which differed at 

 a first glance from the former in its larger size, coloiation, and 

 general appeai-ance, and which I found on examination under a 

 lens to have more numerous scales. This is the form described 

 by Messrs. Holt and Byrne t, in their paper on the British and 

 Irish Gobies, as the typical Q. minuh(.s, while the fish so commonly 

 found at low tide in the pools of the shallow sandy bays of 

 Roscofi' is )-ega.vded by them as nu estuarine race of the same 

 species, to which they refer the G. microps of KroyerJ and later 

 Scandinavian authors. 



The colour of the la.tter fish is dorsally of a dirty grey, minutely 

 speckled with black, laterally with lai'ge blackish blotches, which 

 in the males usually expand into vei-tical bars on tlie side. That 

 of the former is creamy speckled with rusty brown and with small 

 blotches of the same colour laterally ; the blotches may also 

 form bars, which, however, are always finer and less conspicuo\is. 

 1 found the smaller form to be stouter than the larger, the depth 

 of the body being usually from 5 to 6, as against 6 to 7 times in 

 the total length, caudal fin excluded, and tlie scaleless area of 

 the nape and back to be of greater extent. 



These two fishes I found under quite difi^erent conditions — the 

 G. microps of Kroyer close inshore, the one alluded to by 

 Messrs. Holt and Byrne as the typical G. mhndv.s at a locality 

 north of the little island of Batz. opposite Roscoff, uncovered at 

 the spring tides only. 



From the table of pai'ticula,rs of the two forms, given further 

 on, it will be seen that they differ both in number of scales and 

 fin-rays ; and there can be no doubt that the two fishes ai-e distinct 

 and well deserve to lie I'egairled as valid species, not as I'aces 

 only. 



Messrs. Holt and Byrne, liowever, are of opinion that a sufticient 

 series of specimens fi'om various localities would sliow a complete 

 gradation from the one ••race" to the other, and state that 

 specimens from the Cuckmei-e river approach the typical form in the 

 large number of scales and small scaleless area of the nape aud 



* Vii-li>n-);. Spl>li. F'nrli. rhvlstiaiiiH. \><~\. p. ICS. 



t Hpport oil llic Se;i and Inland Fislipn'p? of Ireland for llip Ychv lOOl. I'iirt ii. 

 Appendix III. (1001). 



i Dhiiiii. Fiskc. i. p. Ufi ( 18;iH^lS Id). 



