GOBIOIDE^E. 89 



small parties among rocks near the shore, and of leaping about on the strand, being 

 capable of existing for some time out of the water. They are in no repute as 

 articles of food. Eight sub-genera are indicated in the Regne Animal. The first 

 (Les Blennies proprement dits) is characterised by the single row of long, equal, 

 crowded teeth in each jaw, terminated posteriorly, in some species, by a long curved 

 tooth. The head is obtuse, the snout short, and the forehead vertical ; the dorsal 

 may be either two-lobed, or almost or altogether even. Most of the species have 

 a, barbel over each eye, often in form of a tufted fringe, and many have also a tuft 

 on the temples. In others the superciliary tufts are scarcely perceptible, but the 

 head is surmounted by a membranous crest which swells and reddens in the nup- 

 tial season. Others again (Pholis, Artedi) have neither crests nor superciliary tufts. 

 Seven species belonging to this sub-genus are particularised in the Regne Animal 

 as inhabitants of the European seas : one as belonging to the Indian Ocean, and 

 another to the Sea of Brazil. There are doubtless many other foreign species, and 

 several have been noticed by American naturalists, as inhabitants of the coasts of 

 the United States *. None are mentioned by authors as frequenting the coasts of 

 British America. 



Myxodes and Salarias, the second and third sub-genera, differ from the pre- 

 ceding chiefly in the form of the head. The former comprises some non-descript 

 species, and the latter fish of the Indian Ocean. The fourth sub-genus, Clinus, 

 has several rows of short pointed teeth, the first row being the longest. In some 

 species, which have tufts over the eyes, the foremost rays of the dorsal are sepa- 

 rated by a notch from the rest of the fin, or the anterior bit of the fin may be 

 altogether detached, so as to appear like a crest on the back of the head. In 

 others, the dorsal is continuous and even. The species indicated in the Regne 

 Animal inhabit the North Sea, the South Atlantic in the vicinity of the Cape of 

 Good Hope, and the Sea of New Zealand. The " akoolia-keetsok " of the Green- 

 landers belongs to this sub-genus. It inhabits deep waters, and is often found in 

 the stomachs of the gad'i, pleuronectes, and other large fish. The following- 

 description of it is abridged from Fabricius. 



Length six inches, depth one. Body thicker than the head, and nearly of equal girth 

 throughout. Snout thin, the jaws equal, the forehead flattish. The dorsal and anal are con- 

 tinued to the caudal fin, the former being joined to it by membrane, but the anal distinct. 

 Skin lubricous with minute imbedded scales. The colour is tawny; the head is dotted with 

 white, the throat, pectorals, and caudal are striped with the same, and there are about seven 



* Blennius pholis, Mitchill. New York Tr., i., p. 374. B. hentz, Le Suecr. Journ. Ac. Sc. Phil., iv., p. 361. Blennius 

 geminatus, B. punctatus, Pholis novemlineaius, and Ph. quadrifasicatus, Wood. Journ. Ac. Sc. Phil., iv., p. 278. 



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