200 ACANTHOPTERTGIl. 



pots ; wliile, owing to tLe small size of its mouth and the localities it frequents, 

 it is not often taken by line fishing. 



Breeding. — End of May full of roe, which is of a mulberry or lead colour. 



As food. — Lacepede asserts that they are good eating. 



Habitat.— Atla,T[itic coasts of Europe to the Canary Isles, extending through 

 the Mediterranean and Adriatic, and also reported from the Black Sea. 



In Banffshire it has been taken twice (Edward) : five stuffed examples in the 

 British Museum are said to have come from the Firth of Forth. Along the south 

 coast it has been reported from Poole Harbour, Dorsetshire (Tarrell) ; also from 

 Weymouth (Gosse), Devonshire (Montague), while it is common along the coast 

 of Cornwall. It is found in Somersetshire, a local example existing in the 

 Weston-super-Mare Museum ; while it was first obtained off Anglesea by Pennant. 



In Ireland it is taken on the north-east coast. Templeton (Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 1837 (2) i, p. 409) observed that on June 22nd, 1811, he received this little fish 

 from Mr. McSkimmin, who informed him that he had procured it from the 

 lobster traps of the Carrickfergus fishermen. Portrush, co. Antrim, not rare, 

 here specimens were obtained up to 7 inches in length by J. Ogilby, in crab-pots 

 laid on a rocky bottom, in 10 to 12 fathoms of water (Zool. 1876, p. 4753). 

 Londonderry (Ordnance Survey). 



The example figured is 8 inches in length, and came from Mevagissey, in 

 Cornwall. It attains to at least 9 inches in length, and is the largest of the true 

 British Blennies. 



2. Blennius galerita, Plate LX, fig. 1. 



Blennitis, No. 4, Artedi, Genera, p. 27 (not synon.) ; Alaiida cristaia sive 

 Oalerita, Willugh. Hist. Pise. p. 134 ; Bay, p. 73 ; Klein, Pise. Miss, v, p. 32. 

 Diminutive. Blenny, Pennant, Brit. Zool. (Ed. 1812) iii, p. 277. 



Blennius galerita, Linn. Syst. i, p. 441 ; Bloch, Schn. p. 169 ; Montagu, Wern. 

 Mem. i, p. 98, pi. v, f . 2 ; Turton, p. 92 ; Jenyus, Man. p. 381 ; Giinther, Catal. 

 iii, p. 222 ; Steind. Ich. Span. u. Port. 1868, p. 6 ; Cornish, Zoologist, 1878, 

 p. 424 ; Giglioli, Peso. Ital. p. 31 ; Vinciguerra, Blen. Geneva, An. Mus. Civ. 

 Geneva, xv, 1880, p. 440, c. fig. 



Blennius Montagui, Flem. Brit. Anim. p. 206 ; Cuv. and Val. xi, p. 234, 

 pi. cccxsii; Tarrel], Brit. Fishes (Ed. 1) i, p. 219, c. fig. (Ed. 2) i, p. 249 (Ed. 3) 

 ii, p. 355 ; Guichen. Expl. Alger. Poiss. p. 72 ; White, Catal. p. 46 ; Canestrini, 

 Arch. Zool. ii, p. 99, t. iii, f. 4 ; Moreau, Poiss. France, ii, p. 138. 



Blennius Artedii, Cuv. and Val. xi, p. 231 ; Guichen. 1. c. p. 72 ; Lowe, Trans. 

 Zool. Soc. iii, p. 9. 



Blennitis incequalis, Lowe, Trans. Zool. Soc. ii, p. 185. 



Ichtliyocoris Montagui, Bonap. Peso. Eur. 67, No. 623. 



Adonis galerita, Gronov. ed. Gray, p. 96. 



Montague's hlenny, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, ii, p. 231, pi. cxiii, f . 3. 



B. vi, D. i|:iA p. 12, V. 2, A. 17-18, C. 11. 



Length of head 4| to 5}, of caudal fin 6i, height of body 5 to 5^ in the 

 total length. BJiju — high up, diameter ?j\ to 4 in the length of the head, 1 to 1-^ 

 diameters from the end of the snout, and 2/3 of a diameter apart. Interorbital 

 space nearly flat, snout short, and the anterior profile very abrupt. Passing 

 from the summit of the edge of one orbit to the other is a fleshy, erectile, 

 transverse fold of skin, sometimes 1/2 as long as the head, which is fringed 

 with fine tentacles : while in a row along the nape running from it towards the 

 dorsal fin is another row of fine tentacles. Anterior nostril with a short fringed 

 tentacle. Teeth — a single row of very fine ones in either jaw, fi'om 65 to 65 in 

 the upper and 35 to 45 in the lower. Posteriorly in the lower jaw is a curved 

 canine, whereas none exists in the upper. Fins — the dorsal commences on a 

 vertical line behind the hind edge of the opercle, its spines are flexible and 

 about 2/3 as high as the body, while it i.s deeply notched between its spinous 

 and rayed portions, which latter is the higher, and posteriorly it is not continuous 

 with the caudal, which is almost square at its extremity. Pectoral reaching 



