THE GOBIES, SUCKEHS, AND BLENNIES 167 



any pains to make sure that the species was either peculiar to 

 the place or even markedly common there. The Beaumaris 

 shark, Spanish mackerel, and Norway haddock are other 

 undesirable vernacular names ; and they may recall to collectors 

 of birds' eggs the case of the Dartford warbler, and to moth- 

 hunters that of the Lulworth skipper or Camberwell beauty. 

 All of these might be sought to-day in their original localities, 

 but they would be sought in vain. 



The Cornish Sucker {Lepadogaster gouanii) is a reddish fish, 

 common enough in the rock pools on some parts of the 

 coast. It grows to a length of 4 in., and is said to feed on 

 crustaceans, but not much seems to be known of its habits. 



The Connemara Sucker (Z-. decandolii) is also red, marked 

 with light oval spots. Its dorsal fin is shorter than that of 

 L. gouanii. 



The Doubly-spotted Sucker (Z. bimaculatus), which rarely 

 exceeds a length of 2 in., is red above and has a large 

 dark spot behind the pectoral fins. 



L. stictopteryx, the latest addition to the British suckers, 

 was provisionally named and described by Holt and Byrne * as 

 distinguishable from L. bimaculatus by the more lateral position 

 of the eyes and squarer fore part of the head, as well as by the 

 presence of dark spots on the dorsal and anal fins. 



Blenniidae 



The Blennies 



The group that has now to be described is of greater 

 commercial importance, on account of the wolf-fish, and 

 greater zoological interest, thanks to the viviparous blenny, 

 than the foregoing. The former grows to a great size, and 

 is a not unimportant article of food in the north ; the latter 

 is one of the only two teleostean fishes on our coasts that, 



* See Proc. Zool. Soc, 1898, p. 589. 



