44 gangetic fishes. Order IV. 



above mentioned. The habit which these fishes have of re- 

 maining on the wet mud, not only is a means of more readily 

 procuring food, but secures them from numerous fishes of prey, 

 to the attacks of which their defenceless size would expose 

 them ; and they are singularly enabled to watch against the at- 

 tacks of all their enemies, by the structure and position of their 

 eyes, which entirely resemble those of the Gobius viridis above 

 described, a fish which has also the habit of passing much of 

 its time in the air, and serves to connect the two first divisions 

 of the genus gobius. 



Besides the muscular protuberances, and the singular posi- 

 tion of the eyes, by which this second division of the genus 

 gobius are remarkable, all the species which I have seen agree 

 in the following particulars. 



They are small fishes, seldom exceeding three or four inches 

 in length, although occasionally they are found a foot long. 

 They are found in great numbers, but are little sought after 

 by the natives, and never used by the Europeans. Their ge- 

 neral colour is dull, so as much to resemble that of the mud in 

 which they delight ; but their fins, when spread, possess very 

 considerable beauty. As to form, the transverse section of 

 their bodies is nearly circular ; but, although long in propor- 

 tion to their thickness, they have nothing of that flexibility 

 which distinguishes eels or serpents. Their tails are compress- 

 ed, and end in the form of a wedge. 



Their heads rise up gently from the first back fin to the eyes, 

 and then slope down suddenly to the mouth : they are small 

 in proportion to the animal, and covered with scales. Their 

 mouths are large, and situated low in the head, parallel to its 

 lower part. The under jaw is the shortest. The lips are 

 fleshy. The teeth vary in the different species, but all have a 

 single row in each jaw. Each nostril has one small aperture 



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