ACANTHOPTERYGII. 215 



Anarrhichas, Lin.(l) 

 So very similar are these fishes to the Blenny, that I would willingly name 

 them Blennies without ventrab. 



A. lupus, "L. (The Sea- Wolf) is the most common species; it inhabits 

 northern seas, and is frequently seen on the coast of Europe; six or seven 

 feet long; brown, with clouded bands of deep brown; the flesh resembling 

 that of an Eel. This fish is valuable to the Icelanders, who salt and dry the 

 flesh for food, employ the skin as shagreen, and the gall as soap. The 



GoBius, Lin. 



Commonly called Gobies or Sea-Gudgeons, are instantly recognized by the 

 union of their thoracic ventrals, either along the whole of their length, or 

 at least at their base, forming a single hollow disk more or less infundibuli- 

 form. The spines of the dorsal are flexible, the branchial apertures provi- 

 ded with five rays only, and generally but slightly open. They are small 

 or moderate sized fishes, which live among the rocks near the shore. They 

 prefer a clayey bottom, where they excavate canals in which they pass the 

 winter. In the spring they prepare a nest in some spot abounding with 

 fucus, which they afterwards cover with roots of the Zostera; here the male 

 remains shut up, and awaits the females, who successively arrive to deposit 

 their eggs; he exhibits much care and courage in defending and preserving 

 them. This genus also is variously subdivided. 



Callionymus, Lin. 

 Fishes of this genus have two strongly marked characters, one in their bran- 

 chiae, which have but a single aperture, consisting of a hole on each side of 

 the nape, and another in their ventrals, which are placed under the throat, 

 are separate, and larger than the pectorals. Their head is oblong and de- 

 pressed, their eyes approximated and directed upwards, their intermaxilla- 

 ries protractile, and their preopercula elongated behind and terminating in 

 some spines. Their teeth are small and crowded, but there are none in the 

 palate. They are pretty fishes with a smooth skin, whose anterior dorsal,, 

 supported by a few setaceous rays, is sometimes very elevated. The second 

 dorsal is elongated as well as the anal. 



It is with some hesitation that I close this family with a genus 

 which will one day probably form the type of a separate family; I 

 mean the 



Chirus, Stell. 

 Fishes with a tolerably long body, furnished with ciliated scales; a small 



(1) Anarrhichas, Climber, a name invented by Gesner because this fish is 

 said to climb upon rocks and shoals by the aid of its fins and tail. 



