OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 49 



anterior one often abnormally prolonged — its membrane 

 supported with from four to seven flexible spines ; 

 branchiostegal rays, five or six in number ; air-bladder 

 absent. 



The Dragonets, classed with the Gobies by some autho- 

 rities, but differing from them in the normal, separated 

 condition of their ventral fins, are distinguished by the 

 same litoral habits, one species, the gemmeous Dragonet or 

 Yellow Skulpin {Callioiiymus lyrci), No. 66, being not 

 uncommon on the flat, sandy shores of the south-east coast. 

 The male is remarkable not only for its brilliant colouration 

 but also for the extraordinary development of the anterior 



FIG. n. — dragonet (Callionymtis lyra). 



dorsal fin, the first ray of which in the adult fish reaches, 

 when folded back, from its origin a little behind the head 

 to the base of the tail, the fin when erected bearing no slight 

 resemblance to the narrow lateen sail of an Oriental fishing- 

 yawl. The colour of the body in the same fish is orange 

 or yellowish, diversified with numerous longitudinal stripes, 

 spots and markings of blue and lilac, a similar variegation 

 extending to the dorsal fins. At the breeding season these 

 colours are yet more highly intensified, the darker shades 

 developing to deep ultramarine and violet, reflecting a 

 metallic sheen. The female, which is dressed in paler tints 

 of russet-brown, and is devoid of the prolonged dorsal fin 



E 



