Li 
Cottus cognatus, &c. with Cottus gobio. Hn 
the specific identity of the American and European fish, even 
were we destitute of other means of proof. But very fortu- 
nately we are not thus destitute. Through the kindness of 
Mr. Yarrell, the distinguished English ichthyologist, I am in 
possession of specimens of the undoubted Cottus gobio. And 
to my esteemed friend James J. Bolton, Esq. of Cambridge, 
England, I am indebted for others, taken in the Avon near 
Bath, and received in very perfect condition, having been in 
spirits only the little time requisite for reaching this country. 
I have examined these specimens very closely, and have com- 
pared them with ours (from Connecticut) and by this examin- 
ation I am only rendered (if possible) more firm in my belief 
that the European and American species are identical. 
Two instances of discrepancy have presented themselves, 
containing specific characters which appeared of some impor- 
lance; I refer to the spines on the head, and the teeth in the 
upper jaw. I have said of each of them, in the preceding 
pages, that the discrepancy originated in an error of Artedi, 
and have perhaps been thought presumptuous in thus assert- 
Ang. I did it, however, on what seemed to me absolute au- 
thority, an examination of perfect specimens of the species to 
which his description refers. I find in particular that the two 
‘pines on the sides of the head, the opercular and preopercu- 
5 are precisely alike in the fish of both countries. The 
minute opercular spine, pointing downward and forward, ex- 
ists in the English specimens exactly as in those from Con- 
necticut; It is certainly singular, but it is nevertheless true, 
that this little spine has been overlooked by every describer 
cept Bloch, and even he, as I have already mentioned, has 
them erroneously, though the error is perhaps caused. 
bya transposition in copying or in printing. — = 
The teeth in the upper jaw, also, no longer present any 
difficulty, They conform, as we might suppose, to the ordi- 
nary arrangement of the teeth in fishes, that is, they are sit- 
“ated on the intermaxillaries, These bones are short, not 
