157 



at the middle ; they are longitudinally striated, and the first 

 three are more elevated at their root than the others. There 

 are no scales at their base. The second dorsal is soft, and 

 placed on a ridge. Abdominal fin with the membrane not 

 extending to the ends of the soft rays. In Mr, Yarrell's 

 figure the first rays of the dorsal fin are represented as 

 serrated ; which was not the case in these specimens ; that 

 mark being limited to the first ray of the ventral, which 

 is strongly so. 



D. 9, 24. P. 13. V. 1, 5. A. 3, 24. C. 14. 



Colour of the eye bright yellow, and silvery white ; of the 

 body a fine crimson, delicately bright, faded into yellow, and 

 from thence to a silvery white as it approached the belly. 

 There were no lateral bauds, as are sometimes described. 



Within a few days after the capture of this quantity of 

 these fishes, two others were obtained: and in the week 

 ending the 28th of the same month, about an hundred ad- 

 ditional specimens were taken, and all the specimens that 

 passed under observation exceeded two hundred, 



GOBIAD.E. GOBIES. 



YARRELL'S BLENNY. Blennius galerita, Fleming's 

 Brit. An., p. 207. B. Palmicornis, Jenyns' Man., p. 380. 

 Yarrell's Br. F., 1st Ed., vol. 1, p. 233. B. Yarrellii, 

 Cuv. and Valenciennes. Yarrell's Br. F., 2nd Ed., p. 263. 



My first specimen of this Blenny was procured in 1841; 

 and being rare, and the individual of large size, it was de- 

 posited in the British Museum. Since that time several 

 have come to my hands ; of which two or three were pre- 

 sented from Gorran, by Mr. Peach; and a comparative 

 examination of these enables me to point out some variations 

 to which this fish is subject, and thus to reconcile the con- 

 trariety of description by different Naturalists, of which Mr. 

 Yarreil takes notice. The characters here given are de- 

 signed to have reference to Mr. Yarrell's figure and descrip- 

 tion, both in their resemblance and difference. Lips and 

 cheeks tumid, under jaw rather the longer ; teeth very 

 small, regular, close set; eyes approximate, elevated. Belly 

 tumid, body lengthened, compressed. Lateral line double, 

 the upper soon becoming obsolete, but having its beginning 

 from a row of pores running back from the summit of the 

 cheek. Membrane of the dorsal and anal fin bound to the 

 caudal. Colour uniform light brown, covered with fine 

 scales, each with a paler rim. Between the eyes a slender 

 process; on the front of the head two, elevated, crowned 

 with a tuft of fibrils; and on the top of the head, above the 

 centre of the eye a more elevated process, which in a fish 



u 



