THE VIVIPAROUS BLENNY." Ill 



it is also in some localities split up and the skin and vertebral column 

 removed. 



Of eight specimens from Down, respecting which notes were made by 

 me, the largest was 6:^^ inches in length. This individual had but 9 dorsal 

 spots ; the smallest examined {SI inches) had 13 ; one other had 9 ; one, 

 12 ; and four of them had each 10 of these spots. 



It is perhaps unnecessary to remark that the number of these spots has 

 no reference to the size of the fish. The smallest specimens I have seen 

 had as many spots as the largest ; often more. One M'hich I took on the 

 Galway coast in July, 1840, 1^ inch long, had 13 spots. 



The fin-rays in two specimens which I examined were : — 



1st specimen— D. 75 ; P. 10 ; V. 1 + 1 ; A. 1 + 39 ; 6.16 ? 



First 5 rays of D. soft ; remaining 70 spiny. Pectoral partly orange- 

 coloured with several black dots. 



2nd specimen — D. 75, all spiny ; A. 42 ? first 4 spiny. 



Capt. Fayrer, R. N., has sent me this species from Portpatrick. 



The Viviparous Blenny, Zoarces vkijMrus, Cuv., 

 Is said to have been obtained on the coast. 



Temjileton records " one specimen found on the coast of Down near 

 Donaghadee." 



I have not seen any Irish specimens of this fish, but when on a visit at 

 Twizell House, Northumberland, in the Autumn of 1838, several were 

 found at the beach near Bamborough Castle. They Avere sheltering 

 under large stones between tide-marks, as we find Blen. 2>^'oUs and 

 gunneUus. 



The Wolf-Fish, Sea-Wolf, or Sea-Cat, Anarrhicas Lvpus, Linn., 



Has in a few instances been obtained. 



Templeton says, in his published Catal., it is " sometimes met with in 

 Belfast market." The only note which I have seen in his journal relates 

 to one specimen obtained there on the 4th April, 1807. On questioning 

 an intelligent man who has supplied the market here with fish for the 

 last 25 years, and who regularly visits the fishing stations in Down and 

 Antrim, I found that this species is quite unknown to him. In January, 

 1839, Dr. Jacob, of Dublin, informed me that he once procured a speci- 

 men Avhich was taken off Dublin Bay. In the Museum of the R. D. S., I 

 have seen a native specimen, as noticed in Zool. Proc. 1835, p. 80. Tavo 

 were obtained from Dingle, by Dr. Ball. 



Information which I received from Mr. Nimmo and Mr. M'Calla, rela- 

 tive to a fish which is sometimes taken on the Ling-lines, far out at sea 

 off the coast of Galway, and which the fishermen call Cut-Lmg, leads me 

 to the opinion that it may perhaps be the A. lupus. 



The Black Goby, Gobius nif/er,* Cuv. and Val., 

 Has been taken on the western and southern coasts. 



The British Black Goby, Rock Goby, or Rock-Fish, Guhius 



Britannirus, Thomp., 



[Gohius nif/er, recent British authors,) 



Has been obtained both on the northern and southern coasts. 



The following notices of the Irish specimens of black gobies, which 



* Mr. M'Coy described a Goh.fuliginosus, in the Gth vol. of the Auuals Nat. 

 Hist. p. 403, that seems to me to approach vei-y near this species. 



