ENGLISH FISHES. 



443 



To the great astonishment of the natives, I col- 

 lected some of this species for culinary purposes. 

 In taste, and in the dryness of the fish, they much 

 resembled the Common Gurnards. 



Blennius ocellaris* 



Blennius ocellaris. Lin. Syst. p. 441 . — Gmelin, p. 11 56. 

 •^Bloch, t. 167. p. 1,-—Shaw, Zool. iv.p. 165. t. 24. 



Plate xxii. fig. 2. natural size. 



The Ocellated Blenny appears to be well known 

 as a Mediterranean fish, but no one, I believe, sus- 

 pected it to inhabit our shores. I have the plea- 

 sure, however, of adding it to the British cata- 

 logue. 



In the summer of the year 1814, three of this 

 species were taken by the dredge on the oyster- 

 bed at Torcross, on the south coast of Devon, all 

 of which came under my inspection, and I had 

 the satisfaction of examining one in a living state ; 

 but it did not survive the day, though the vessel 

 in which it was placed was frequently replenished 

 with sea-water, so different is its constitution 

 from that of the Smooth Blenny, B. pholis, which 

 I. have kept alive for two days in a moist place, 

 without being covered with water. 



It is possible that the Ocellaris may occasion- 

 ally have been confounded with the Gattorugine, 



F f 4 



