BLENNIES AND TOAD-FISHES. 191 



seas. The other forms shown, Gadopsis, Clinus, Tripterygium and 

 the curious looking Patcecus, are from the Australian region. 



The fish known as the Viviparous Blenny (88I7882), one 

 of the few bony fishes that bring forth their young in an actively 

 living state instead of depositing eggs or spawn, belongs to the 

 family Zoarcidae. The Zoarcidse have very small scales or no 

 scales in the skin ; the dorsal and anal fins are long in the base 

 and there is no distinct caudal fin ; spinous fin-rays as a rule are 

 wanting. The family is widely distributed in all seas, and some 

 of the forms are adapted for life at great depths and have reduced 

 eyes, to be seen only on dissection. The Cuban Cave-fish, 

 Lucifuga subterranea, 880, is the only fresh- water form, and this 

 also is blind. It is colourless and transparent, and grows to a 

 length of five inches. 



The Gunnel or Butter-fish, Pholis gunnellus, 879, belonging to 

 the family Pholididse, is a little fish common on our shores, and 

 remarkable for the manner in which the female rolls the eggs into 

 a ball and deposits them in a hole in the rock bored by the 

 bivalve mollusc Pholas. 



The Batrachidae or Toad-fishes are a small family of fishes with Toad-fish, 

 a broad, flattish head and reduced gill openings. The mouth is 

 large and the upper border is supported to a considerable extent 

 by the maxillary bones. The spinous dorsal fin is very short, the 

 soft dorsal, and the anal fin long in the base. The fishes of the 

 family are sluggish and voracious, and occur near the shores of 

 tropical and warm seas. The European Toad-fish, Batrachus 

 didadylus, 878, has scales, but the American Toad-fish is without 

 scales. The young of the former has on the ventral surface of the 

 body a sucking disc, which soon disappears. 



The Ophidiidae are fishes related to the Zoarcidse; they have a 

 tapering tail without a distinct caudal fin, and the pelvic fins 

 are reduced to two pairs of filaments set just behind the chin. 

 There are no spines to any of the fins. The example shown is 

 Genypterus blacodes, 883, from Australian seas. Aphyonus 

 gelatinosus, an example of one of the deep-sea members of the 

 family, is exhibited in the series of Deep-sea Fishes (Cabinet- 

 case 44, specimen 974). 



