COTTOIDEiE. 59 



[33.] 1. Temnistia ventricosa. North-west Notchfin. 



Family, Cottoideae. Genus novum, Temnistia* prope Hemilepidotum. 

 Blepsias ventricosus. Eschscholtz, Zool. Atlas, drittes heft, p. 4, t. 13. 

 B. curpore fusco ; faciis quatuor fiexuosis macul&que posticd rubris ; abdomine infiato albo 

 fuscoque marmorato ; pinnis pectoralibus faciis tribus hepatitis pallidisque alternan- 

 tibus. Esch. /. c. 



This fish frequents the north-west coast of America, having been taken in Nor- 

 folk Sound, and off the island of Sitcha, by the Russian Expedition under Captain 

 Kotzebue. Eschscholtz states it to possess all the characters of Blepsias, but 

 though it does in part correspond with the short notice of that genus in the Regne 

 Animal *, it differs both in habit and in structure from the only two species of 

 Blepsias hitherto discovered. It belongs to that group of Cottoideae which is 

 characterised by the compressed form of the head, and has much resemblance in 

 external form to Hemilepidotus and Scorpsena, between which it will probably 

 stand in a natural arrangement. It is separated from the former by its body being 

 wholly scaly, and the presence of barbels on the head ; and from the latter, by 

 having only five gill-rays and a three-lobed dorsal. The want of scales on the 

 head distinguishes it from Sebastes, and its habit, which is very unlike that of a 

 blenny, its long pectorals and scaly body, detach it from Blepsias. The other 

 Cottoid genera, with compressed heads, are still more dissimilar in external cha- 

 racters to this fish : Pterois has seven gill-rays, and is remarkable for the extreme 

 length of the rays of its dorsal and pectorals ; Apistes and Minous are armed with 

 a large, moveable, sub-orbitar spine ; Agriopus has a scaleless body and unarmed, 

 imperfectly cuirassed cheeks ; and Hoplostethus has its deep body protected infe- 

 riorly by keeled scales, and six soft rays in its ventrals. We have, therefore, 

 ventured on giving Eschscholtz's fish a proper generic name ; but as the Zoolo- 

 gischer Atlas contains no account of its dentition, nor any anatomical details, we 

 shall not attempt any further enumeration of the characters of the genus, than what 

 may be gathered from the following description of the species, which is compiled 

 partly from the text of the work just cited, and partly from an inspection of the 

 plate. 



* Th. Tif/.ta, snndo, et <V>svj velum. 



f Les Blepsias ont la tele comprimee, lajoue euirassee, des barbillons charnus sous la mdchoire inferieure, cinq rayons ana 

 ou'z'es, de Ires petites ventrales, et une dorsale ires haute, divisee en trois par des echancrures. Reg, An. 



r 2 



