OF BRITISH FISHES* 99 



Bloch does not appear to have described this 

 species ; nor is it figured in the British Fishes* 

 In the General Zoology, British Fauna, and Ele- 

 ments of Natural History, the most modern publi- 

 cations, no light is thrown on the subject ; all that 

 is there said about this blenny is borrowed, and 

 nothing is to be met with that can reconcile any 

 description I have been able to examine, or the 

 only figure I could consult, with the fish in ques- 

 tion ; yet, unwilling to give it as a new species un- 

 til the subject shall be more thoroughly sifted, 

 (and which is so much obscured by its rarity), I 

 shall submit the following description of my fish ? 

 accompanied by a figure, to the opinion of the 

 ichthyologists of the Wernerian Society, who may 

 choose to offer some remarks upon the subject. 



Body rather more slender than the Smooth 

 Blenny. Head much sloped ; eyes high up, ap- 

 proximating, gilded; the upper lip furnished with 

 a bony plate that projects at the angles of the 

 mouth into a thin lamina that turns downwards, 

 the ends of which are orange- coloured : on the 

 top of the head, between the eyes, is a trans- 

 verse, fleshy, fimbriated, membrane ; the fimbriae 

 of a purplish-brown colour tipped with white : the 

 nostrils furnished with a minute bifid appendage : 

 behind the crest are several minute, erect, filiform 

 appendiculfz, between that and the dorsal fin. 

 placed longitudinally : the lateral line considera- 

 bly curved near the head: the pectoral fins are 



G 2 



