Cuvier's Histoire Naturelle ties Poissons. 283 



Histoire Naturelle des Poissons. Par M. le Baron Cuvier, et M. 

 A. Valenciennes. Tome Onzieme. 8vo. 1836. 

 The second volume of this important work which has appeared 

 since the death of its illustrious projector. It contains the families 

 of the Mugilloides and Gobioides. The first, besides the true mul- 

 lets, Mugil, Linn, has included in it Ceslrceus, a genus formed from 

 two fishes natives of the fresh waters of the island of Celebs. Da- 

 jaus, of which the Mugil monticola of Bancroft, inhabiting the fresh 

 waters of the Island of Jamaica, is the type and only species. Nes- 

 tis, frequenting the coasts of the isles of France and Bourbon, limit- 

 ed to two species, and Tetragotiurus, Risso, formed from the Mugil 

 niger of Rondelet, apparently a very rare Mediterranean fish, and 

 now standing under the title of Tetragon. Cuvierii, Risso. Of Mugil 

 fifty-two species are described, — an immense increase to the number 

 previously known. Of those frequenting the British coasts it is inte- 

 resting to know that the M. curtus of Yarrell, described from a single 

 specimen of about two inches in length, taken at the mouth of Poole 

 harbour, has been a second time met with by M. Bailon in the bay 

 of the Somme, near Abbeville. One specimen in this instance has also 

 only been met with, about eight inches in length, and M. Valenci- 

 ennes is of opinion that the characters given by Mr Yarrell stand con- 

 firmed. 



The Gobioides. — Cuvier appears at first to have formed two fami- 

 lies. The Blennioides having six rays to the branchial membrane, 

 and the Gobioides having only five, in the present volume they are re- 

 tained under the last. The family is remarkable as containing several 

 species which are considered viviparous ; and the manner in which the 

 female is impregnated has always been a subject of interest to the na- 

 turalist, the uncertainty being, whether it took place internally or ex- 

 ternally, and we regret that it is still left in doubt. Cuvier has expres- 

 sed his opinion to be in favour of internal impregnation, " mais avec 

 circonspection ;" and M. Valenciennes, while he leans to the same, is 

 unable to satisfy himself from the form of the parts how it can be ef- 

 fected. The family is commenced with the Blennies ( Blennius) of which 

 thirty species are described. Among those natives of the British seas 

 that figured in Mr Yarrell's work under the title of " The Crested 

 Blenny, Bl. palmicornis," is considered distinct and new, and is de- 

 dicated to the commemoration of our own worthy ichthyologist, Bl. 

 Yarrellii. Valenciennes has never seen the true B. palmicornis ex- 

 cept from the Mediterranean, and he has not seen a specimen of 

 Yarrell's fish; but he remarks of it, " we find this species already 

 noticed in Fleming and Nilsson, who have confounded it with the 

 Bl. galerita of Linn. Mr Yarrell, perceiving their error, has taken it 



