216 THE BLENNY FAMILY. 



A difference in regard to the assumption of the character- 

 istic pigment of the adult stage seems to exist, as indeed might 

 be expected. Thus some of 28 mm. from the West Coast have 

 this fairly developed, while others considerably larger, in spirit, 

 are devoid of such. 



Young gunnels of 28 mm., resembling the adults, were 

 captured off the Island of May in the mid-water net at 30 

 fathoms, but probably the net touched the bottom. They are 

 thicker and more massive than the former, and the region from 

 the base of the breast-fin to the tip of the snout is longer. 

 The ventral fins are well-formed. The pigment along the 

 sides forms a series of reticulations with the long diameter 

 of the ovoid pale spaces vertical. These were considered by 

 Malm as the precursors of the lateral sj)ots of the adult. In 

 those of 40 mm. observed here, the pale spots were dotted all 

 over the sides of the body. Eleven black bars are continued 

 from the body to the dorsal fin without a trace of the eye-like 

 areas of the adult. Similar though less distinct touches inferiorly 

 proceed on the anal fin, which Malm stated in the Swedish example 

 was edged with flame-yellow and marked with the indistinct, 

 whitish .spots, set in oblique rows. He also found the tail had a 

 flame-yellow tip. Indications of the line of pigment observed 

 in the earlier stage a little above the ventral border of the 

 abdomen are still present, but all the reticulations just described 

 have been developed .subsequently and independently. The 

 median ventral pigment-line is also quite distinct — fi-om the 

 hyoidean region to the vent. The modification of the numerous 

 and somewhat small lateral reticulations into the larger vertical 

 bars of the adult is easily followed in a series of specimens, as 

 also the gradual diminution of the pectorals. A characteristic 

 feature in this young stage is the presence of a K-shaped 

 arrangement of black pigment on each side of the head, the 

 strong bar of the K uniting with its fellow above the brain and 

 proceeding forward over the eye to the tip of the snout. One 

 leg of the K goes from the eye straight downward to the edge 

 of the mandible, while the other slopes backward to the opercular 

 region. 



The earlier form (.35'.5 mm. on the 23rd May) and that last- 



