162 ACANTH0PTERYGI1. 



and would attach themselves to the sides of the glass in any position by means of 

 the ventral fins. 



Breeding. — Mr. Roberts, observed that when the female had deposited 

 her eggs in the shell of a barnacle, the male took possession of the deposit, and 

 was continually working his fins in and out of the shell and drove other fish 

 away. On the sixteenth day the young fish were hatched, but were destroyed 

 by the other fish in the vivarium. 



Uses. — Due to their small size, more as the food for other fishes or birds than 

 man. They are frequently taken from the stomach of the cod and haddock, and 

 Yarrell records one from the inside of a tern. 



Habitat. — Seas of Northern Europe excluding the Baltic, and not recorded 

 along the Mediterranean coast of France. Although it has been said by Nardo to 

 exist in the Adriatic, Canestrini and others have not obtained it there. It is 

 found off Norway and Denmark : is not infrequent in the Orkneys and Shetland 

 Isles, and extends round the coast of Great Britain, being very common in 

 suitable places : in Cornwall it is said to be rather rare, but becomes numerous 

 off the Channel Islands, and west coast of France. 



In Ireland it is common on the north-east coast, especially along the shores of 

 Down, and is also abundant on the western coast, certainly as far as the Island 

 of Arran. 



It attains to at least 2\ inches in length. The example figured, and for which I 

 am indebted to Mr. J. Carrington, f.l.s., was obtained in Guernsey with several 

 others. 



B. First dorsal fin with six spines. 

 2. Gobius paganellus, Plate' LII, fig. 2. 



Paganellus Venetorum, Willugh. p. 207 ; Ray, p. 75. Gobius, sp. 2, Artedi, 

 Genera, p. 29 ; Hasselq. Reise nach Palasst. p. 373. 



? Gobius onelanio, Pallas, Zoo. iii, p. 157 ; Rathke, Faun, der Krym, p. 327 ; 

 Nord. Demid. Voy. Russ. Merid. iii, p. 412, Poiss. pi. xi, fig. 1; Kessler, Bull. 

 Soc. Nat. Mosc. 1859, ii, p. 250. 



Gobius bicolor, Brunn. Pise. Mass. p. 30, no. 41 ; Gmel. Linn. p. 1197 ; Cuv. 

 and Yal. xii, p. 19 ; Moreau, Poiss. France, ii, p. 228. 



Gobius paganellus, Gmel. Linn. p. 1198 ; Cuv. and Val. xii, p. 20; Gunther, 

 Catal. iii, p. 52; Andrews, Journ. Roy. Dublin Soc. v, 1866-70, p. 381; Steind. 

 Ich. Span. u. Port. 1868, p. 63. 



Gobius niger, Risso, Ich. Nice, p. 158 and Eur. Merid. iii, p. 280 ; Yarrell, 

 Brit. Fishes, (Ed. 2) i, p. 281 (Ed. 3) ii, p. 318 (in part) ; Thompson, Nat. Hist. 

 Ireland, iv, p. Ill ; Canestr. Arch. Zool. i, p. 135, t. vii, f. 2. 



Gobius punctipinnis, Canestrini, 1. c. p. 131, t. x, f. 1. 



Gobius maderensis, Cuv. and Val. xii, p. 55 (var.) ; Gunther, Catal. iii, p. 57. 



Gobius niger, var. Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1839, p. 84 and Trans, iii, p. 10. 



Paganellus, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, ii, p. 157, pi. xcviii. 



B. v, D. 6/^lre, P. 20, V. 1/5, A. ^n, C. 13, L. 1. 54-58, L. tr. 15-17. 

 Length of head 4 to 4f-, of caudal fin 5 \ to 6, height of body h\ to 6 in the 

 total length. Eye — rather prominent, diameter 1/4 of the length of the head, 

 about I diameter from the end of the snout, and 1/3 to 1/2 a diameter apart. Head 

 depressed, broader that high : cheek swollen and during life no deep groove 

 extending from the base of the first dorsal fin to the occiput : cleft of mouth 

 oblique commencing opposite the upper third of the eye. Mouth rounded, jaws 

 of about the same length anteriorly, or the lower slightly the longer. The maxilla 

 reaches to beneath the first quarter of the eye : lips thick and with a fringed row 

 of barbel-like papillae. Several rows of warts descending from the eye to the cheeks, 

 and more especially towards the angle of the mouth. Teeth — pointed, no canines, 

 the outer row in either jaw considerably enlarged and somewhat curved, 

 especially in the upper jaw. Fins — the dorsal fins placed close together, the 

 spines of the first weak, and from half to two-thirds the height of the body 

 beneath, but not so hi^h as the ravs of the second dorsal. The distance between 



