ON THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF THE SEAS OF CHINA AND JAPAN. 205 



to be not jointed. Scales large, ciliate, with flabellafc streaks on the disc. Cheeks and per- 

 haps the gill-cover naked. General colour dark or blackish, mottled with pale irregular spots, 

 lower jaw spotted with liver-brown and white. Dorsal mottled by rows of black specks on 

 the rays. Mr. Reeves's drawing shows irregular blackish-green specks thickly spread over 

 the olive-green ground colour of body and head, with an admixture of reddish-orange on the 

 lower part of the sides and belly, the whole having a dark hue. Vertical fins olive-green and 

 hair-brown obscurely mottled. Pectorals gall-stone yellow, with a blackish mark on the scaly 

 base. The figure shows seven rays in the first dorsal. 

 Hab. Macao. 



Gobius ripilepis, Richardson. Bad. D.6|-l|10; A.l|10; C.17£; P. 21; 

 V. 1|5-1|5, united. 



This species is of the group headed in the ' Histoire des Poissons ' (xii. p. 85) by G. venenatus. 

 The height of the head is equal to half its length, which is contained four times and a quarter 

 in the whole length of the fish, or thrice and a half when the caudal is excluded. Belly pro- 

 minent behind the ventrals, and the height there equals the length of the head. Lower jaw 

 rather longest. Small eyes more than a diameter apart. Teeth in broad villiform plates, with 

 those in the outer row a little taller, especially on the sides of the upper jaw and front of the 

 lower one. A small canine on the middle of each limb of the lower jaw. Scales ciliated, with 

 strong streaks diverging from the free apex of their exposed rhomboidal discs. Head scaly, 

 forward to the eyes. A porous curved line beneath the eye, a longitudinal one crossing the 

 middle of the cheek, and another on the upper edge of the interoperculum. First dorsal 

 about twice as high as the second one. Caudal fenestrated by clear points, but its colours 

 have perished. Six rows of roundish or arrow-headed clear specks correspond with the rows 

 of scales on the sides, and there is a series of pale curved muscular marks along the lateral 

 line. The Rev. G. Vachell's specimen, deposited in the museum of the Cambridge Philoso- 

 phical Society, measures 3£ inches. 



Hab. Macao. 



Gobius margariturus, Richardson. Bad. D.6|-l|12; A. 1|10; C. 17-f ; 

 P. 17; V. 1|5-1|5, united. 



Another species of the same group, deposited in the same institution by the Rev. G. Vachell, 

 is distinguished by a series of silvery specks running down the middle of the tail. These 

 specks, six in number, are irregular in form, and the first is placed over the vent, a narrow 

 silvery stripe coincident with the spinal column preceding it. There are also a few silvery 

 specks on the nape, one on the temples, another on the gill-cover, and two lines of pores on the 

 cheek. The scales are pretty large, ciliated and faintly streaked. The body has a linear 

 form, its height being about the eighth of the whole length of the fish. Head bluntly rounded 

 in profile at the snout, with the jaws equal. Teeth minute, but the outer row taller, the vil- 

 liform inner ones being very low and much crowded. A recurved canine in the middle of 

 the limb of the lower jaw. Eyes a full diameter apart. Caudal pointed. 



Hab. Macao. 



Gobius filifer, C. et V. xii. p. 106 ; Icon. Reeves, 276 ; Hardw. 

 Bad. D. 6|-1|10 ; A. 1|8 ; C. 21 ; P. 17 ; V. 1|5-1|5, united. 



The Indian fish described under this name in the 'Histoire des Poissons' is made the type of 

 a group of Gobies which have short bodies and minute scales buried in the skin. Specimens 

 in good order have been deposited in the British Museum and with the Cambridge Philoso- 

 phical Society by John Reeves, Esq. and the Rev. George Vachell, which show that the fish 

 when alive is very handsomely and gaily ornamented. 



Hab. The Indian ocean, China seas, and Malay archipelago. Macao. 



Gobius ommaturus, Richardson, Ichth. of the Voy. of the Sulphur, p. 146. 

 pi. 55. f. 1.3; Icon. Reeves, 147 ; Hardw. Chinese name, Chang yaow 

 (Birch) ; Chang yaou neen, " Long-waisted" (Reeves) ; Cheung in nain 

 (Bridgem. Chrest. 74). Bad. D. 9|-20 ; A. 1|17 ; C. 37 ; P. 22 ; V. 1|5-1|5, 

 united. 



A specimen in the British Museum, from John Reeves, Esq. 

 Hab. Macao. 



Gobius stigmothonus, Richardson, Ichth. of Sulph. p. 147. 

 Bad. D. 9|-1|13 vel 14; A. 1|11 ; C. 35; P. 18; V. 1|5-1|5, united. 



