OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 55 



large dark blue ocelli are constantly developed on the top 

 of the head immediately behind the eyes. In the 

 Connemara Sucker (L. decandolii), No. 72, two or three 

 posteriorly converging brilliant scarlet lines ornament the 

 sides of the head, while in the third form, known as the 

 Bimaculated or Doubly-spotted Sucker (L. bimaculatzis), 

 No. 73, two dark ocelli are developed on the sides of the 

 body, just behind the distal termination of the pectoral 

 fins. During several years residence in the Channel Islands 

 the writer has become acquainted with what will probably 

 have to be regarded as a fourth British species of the genus 

 Lepidogaster, but which, by Couch and other writers, has 

 apparently been overlooked as a variety only of L. 

 bimaculatus. While exhibiting manifold variations in the 

 general ground colour of its body, which may be repre- 

 sented by different shades of red, green, or brown, the two 

 lateral ocelli, distinctive of the last-named type, are never 

 found ; but in lieu of this a single, very conspicuous dark- 

 coloured streak is developed along each side of the head, 

 the eye being stationed immediately in its centre and 

 interrupting it at this point. Additionally to these dis- 

 tinctive markings, important structural differences are found 

 to exist in the composition of the dorsal, anal, and caudal 

 fins, and more especially in that of the ventral acetabulum. 

 Finally it is found to affect a different habitat, for while L. 

 bimacitlatus is to be obtained only with the aid of the 

 dredge at some little distance from the shore, the form 

 here introduced is a strictly litoral species, obtainable 

 beneath stones in the rock-pools at all ordinary ebb-tides. 

 This distinction in the habitats of the spotted and so-called 

 unspotted varieties of the last-named type is alluded to in 

 Couch's "British Fishes," as important evidence in support 

 of the probable specific distinctness of the unspotted form. 



