Gobius. — 3d Div. gangetic fishes. 49 



This little fish, like the two preceding, wants the tubercles 

 and belts, which distinguish the G. plinianus. The back and 

 belly are of a brownish colour, the sides blackish, with many 

 small green spots. The back fins are black at the bottom, and 

 blue towards the edges, which are dotted with red. The pec- 

 toral fins are olive, with blue membranes. The vent fin is dot- 

 ted with black. 



There is a tubercle shaped like a crescent between the eyes 

 and mouth. The lips resemble those of the G. septemradiatus. 

 There is no tubercle on the middle of the lower jaw. The teeth 

 in both are strong, erect, and distant from each other. The 

 tongue and palate are white. Each membrane of the gill-covers 

 contains three rays. 



All the scales are imbricated. The lateral lines cannot be traced. 



The two back fins approach close to each other. The first 

 slopes gradually backward, and its first ray is double the length 

 of the membrane, while the others are no longer. The first 

 ray of the second fin is undivided, the others are bifid, and the 

 two last stand very near each other, and might be reckoned as 

 one. In each pectoral fin there are twelve fays. The ventral 

 fin has no cavity below, and is very deeply divided into two 

 lobes. The fin behind the vent contains twelve simple rays ; 

 the tail fin has fourteen, besides some very short ones on its 

 under side, which cannot be distinctly numbered. 



The thikd division of the genus Gobius is better known to 

 naturalists than the two former, most of the species that they 

 describe coming under this head. I have found five species in 

 the waters tributary to the Ganges, all of them distinguished by 

 the following circumstances. 



They approach in form the G. niger of Bloch, (Ichth. Tome 

 II. PI. I. fig. 2, 3, 4, et 5,) the sea gudgeon or pink of the Eng- 

 lish. Their bodies are long in proportion to their thickness, 



