FISH. 83 



the middle : this part is said to be without any asperities in the D. monticola. The suborbital 

 is more rounded off at the lower angle anteriorly, and the denticulations thereon rather more 

 numerous and better developed. The scales on the body, those especially above the lateral 

 line, have a few minute teeth on their free edges, communicating a roughness to the touch ; a 

 character not alluded to in the description of the D. monticola, and which therefore may be 

 presumed absent. There are also three more rays in the anal, and one in the second dorsal. 



The depth of the body in this specimen, from its bad state of preservation, cannot be ascer- 

 tained ; but the head is contained about four and a-half times in the entire length. The 

 diameter of the orbit is one-fourth the length of the head ; and there is nearly one diameter 

 between it and the end of the snout. The jaws are nearly equal, but when the mouth is closed, 

 the upper one projects a trifle ; this last is also moderately protractile. The maxillary retires 

 beneath the suborbital. The fin-ray formula is as follows : — 



D.4— 1/9; A. 3/12; C. 14, &c. ; P. 15; V. 1/5. 

 There is but one individual of this species in the collection, which measures 

 seven inches in length. The colours do not appear to have been noticed. 



Family.— BLENNID.E. 

 Blennius palmicornis. Cuv. et Val. 



Blennius palmicornis, Cuv. et Val. Hist, des Poiss. torn. xi. p. 159. 



The Blenny, which I have referred above to the B. palmicornis of Cuvier and 

 Valenciennes, seems somewhat intermediate in its characters between that species 

 and the B. parvicornis of the same authors. This inclines me to suspect that the 

 two species are not really distinct, as those authors themselves seem to have 

 thought possible, though they state that they never received the JB. palmicornis, 

 except from the Mediterranean.* 



In this specimen the head is one-fifth of the entire length, and the ventrals one-eighth, which is 

 worth noticing, because it is stated that in the B. palmicornis the head is contained nearly five 

 and a-half times, and sometimes nearly six times in the total length ; and the ventrals neaiiy ten 

 times in the same. The filaments above the eyes, however, are similar to those of the species 

 just mentioned ; quite as much developed, and each divided nearly to the base into five or six 

 flattened bristles. There are about forty teeth in the upper jaw, and twenty-eight or thirty in 

 the lower : the canine below is very distinct, but above it is almost, if not quite wanting. The 

 fin-ray formula is as follows : — 



D. 11/21; A. 21; C. 11, &c. ; P. 13; V. 2. 



The length of the specimen is nearly five inches. The anal is marked and 

 coloured exactly as described to be the case in the B. palmicornis. 



This species was obtained by Mr. Darwin at the Cape Verde Islands. 



• According to Mr. Lowe, however, the B. palmicornis is common at Madeira, (see Proc. of Zool. Soc. 1829, 

 p. 83), and a specimen received from him, undoubtedly belonging to that species, is in the Museum of the 

 Cambridge Philosophical Society. 



