72 CLASSIFICATION OF FISHES. 



characters^ taken collectively^ point out this tribe as a 

 natural group, which is further distinguished by contain- 

 ing the only viviparous genera yet known among the 

 Acanthopteryges, and by evincing a clear approximation, 

 to the apodal genera or the eel-like fishes. With 

 the exception of the eel-shaped wolf-fish, and the bull- 

 heads (BatrachidcB), nearly all the rest are of a small 

 size, neither remarkable for their beauty, nor esteemed 

 as food : the majority only grow to the length of a few 

 inches, and live in very shallow sea water, or in pools left 

 by the sea-side, where they hide themselves from such 

 fish or aquatic birds as prey upon them. In conformity 

 with the result of our investigation of this tribe, we 

 shall divide them into the following families : — The 

 Blennidce, or blennies : 2. The Gobidcp, or gobies ; 

 3. The Batmcid(p, or bull-fish; 4, The ChiridcB ; 

 and 5. The ZoarchidcB, or wolf-fishes. The two first are 

 the typical groups, while it is by the BatraddcB, blend- 

 ing into the Cottida, or bull-heads, that this tribe is 

 united to the last. 



(75.) The Blennid^, or blennies, form a most sin- 

 gular and interesting family, very abundant in forms 

 and species, at least in the typical genera. Many of 

 them are found in Britain, where they are called blen- 

 nies, &c. ; but their size ,is so small, that they are 

 never sold in the markets. It appears that this family 

 is distributed over every part of the world but Asia ; 

 or at least it is a singular fact, that, in the two best 

 works we yet possess upon the fishes of India, not 

 one species has been recorded. 



(76.) The blennies, as left by M. Cuvier, were 

 distributed under nine genera ; but his able coadjutor M. 

 Valenciennes, in his last admirable volume, has added 

 •several others, and has enriched our science with such 

 a host of new species, that with these materials, aided 

 by our own, we have been enabled to arrange and work 

 out the relations of this family with an unusual degree 

 of precision. The majority compose two great groups 

 or sub-families — the Blennince and the Clinince, both 



