402 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



dull brown, darker on posterior termination. Length 6^ inches. 

 Type of Uranoscopus guttatus Abbott. Cape May. 



This is the only example examined. The species is apparently 

 rare. It is said to attain a foot in length. 



Uranoscopus guttatus Abbott, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 

 i860, p. 365, PI. 7. — Abbott, 1. c, p. 479, a correction. 



Upsilonphorus guttatus Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1868, p. 817. 



Astroscopus anoplus Bean, Bull. U. S. F. Com., VII, 1887, p. 

 136, PI. I, figs. 1-2. 



Family BLENNIID-ffi:. 



The Blennies. 



Body oblong or elongate. Mouth large or small, teeth various. 

 Gill-membranes free from isthmus or more or less attached to it. 

 Pseudobranchise present. Vertebrae in moderate or large num- 

 ber, 30 to 80. Hypercoracoid perforate, shoulder-girdle normally 

 formed. Suborbital without bony stay. Body naked or covered 

 with moderate or small scales which are ctenoid or cycloid. 

 Lateral line variously developed, often wanting and often dupli- 

 cated. Dorsal fin with spines anteriorly, with or without soft 

 rays. Anal long, similar to rayed dorsal. Caudal well developed. 

 Ventrals jugular, or subthoracic, of I spine and i to 3 soft rays, 

 often wanting. 



Mostly carnivorous fishes of small or moderate size, living near 

 the shore in tropical, temperate and Arctic seas. Excepting for 

 the ovoviviparous Clininco they are considered viviparous. Sev- 

 eral species rarely on our shores. 



Key to the genera. 



a. Teeth comb-like; soft rays forming about half of dorsal. 



b. Gill-membranes free from isthmus, or at least forming a distinct fold 

 across; one or both jaws with a posterior fang-like canine. 



BLENNIUS 



hb. Gill-membranes broadly united to isthmus, gill-openings restricted to 

 sides; one or both jaws, with a posterior fang-like canine. 



HYPIvEUROCHILUS 



aa. Teeth conic, not comb-like ; dorsal of spines only. pholis 



