CYCLOPTERIIXai. 
283 
Genus CYCLOGASTER. 
Body tadpole-like , more or less pointed towards the caudal fin, and covered with a slimy and loose skin, which is 
naked or (in old specimens ) sometimes rough with scattered , small plates, and thickly, hut loosely, covers the an- 
terior part and the base of the long, continuous, dorsal fin, and also of the anal fin. Pseud obranchice wanting 
or rudimentary. Vertebrae more than 40. 
Obs. Rondelet" borrowed from Pliny the name of Lip aria b 
for a fish which probably did not belong to this genus, and Wil- 
LUGHBY t ' was the first clearly to describe a species belonging to this 
genus under that name, with the addition of the English name of 
Sea-snail, which is still in use. Neither ArtedL nor LiNNiEUS^ knew 
this fish from his own observations; and as Linnaeus did not recog- 
nise Liparis as a distinct genus, and Aktedi gave no diagnosis there- 
of, this genus, according to the laws of nomenclature, must now 
bear the name of Cyclogaster , which it received of GronoviusA who 
was the first author to give a scientific description and determination 
of the genus. He states that in Belgium it is called Ringbuyh. In 
Sweden, according to Koltiioff 6 ', it is called Sugfisk (Sucking-fish); 
but neither Ekstrom nor Malm give any name used by the fishermen 
of Bohuslan. Nilsson employed the name of Lumpfislc, Malm that 
of Sugare (Sucker). Kroyer translated Cy dog aster , and called the 
genus Ringing. 
The slimy and, in most cases, entirely naked skin 
is only loosely attached to the body by a subjacent 
layer of loose, connective tissue; and the variability 
thus caused in the external shape of the body, as well 
as the consequent difficulty of preserving the fish in a 
perfect state, and lastly the large number of colour- 
varieties which we find among the young specimens, 
have rendered the determination of the species within 
this genus no easy task. However, if we compare all 
the species described, we easily find that they compose 
a distinct, continuous series of forms, starting from 
those which approach nearest to the juvenile stages of 
the following genus, and acquiring a greater and great- 
er number of rays in the dorsal and anal fins, until 
these fins imperceptibly coalesce with the caudal fin, 
while the body simultaneously becomes more and more 
elongated and pointed towards the tail. The adhesive 
ventral disk also moves farther and farther forward, 
and is reduced in size, suggesting a continuation of 
this change, and finall} 7 disappears h , the family thus 
gaining a deceptive likeness to certain forms of the 
Cottidce and Ophidiidce. As this series of forms is re- 
presented in the changes of growth of individual forms, 
we also regard it as the expression of a true develop- 
mental series, even though it be of a retrograde cha- 
racter. The different stages of this development may, 
in different localities or at different ages, show a greater 
or less degree of constancy; but transitions involve an 
inconstancy of character. Gunther’s opinion of the only 
known specimen of Paraliparis membranaceus may thus 
apply to still more of the species described: “It is un- 
certain whether this specimen represents a species in 
which certain embryonic characters are persistent, or 
merely an early stage of development of some other 
species”. In the Scandinavian fauna we follow the 
example of Collett, Lilljeboeg and Lutken, and 
distinguish between the three following species only: 
A: •■Rays of the dorsal fin more than 
50, of the anal fin more than 40. 
Vent situated in the first quarter 
of the length of the body. Length 
of the adhesive disk equal to or 
slightly greater than the diameter 
of the eye Cyclogaster gelcdinosus. 
B: Rays of the dorsal fin less than 
50, of the anal fin less than 40. 
Tent situated behind the first 
quarter of the length of the body. 
Length of the adhesive disk twice 
the diameter of the eye: 
“ De Pise., lib. IX, cap. VIII. 
b From ?U7tCCQog, sleelc. Descriptio ad eum dignoscendum non multum valet: Ray. 
c Hist. Pise., App., p. 17. 
11 Synon ., p. 117. 
e iSysc. Nat., ed. XII, tom. I, p. 414, Cyclopterus liparis. 
f Mus. Ichtli., tom. II, p. 9; Zoophyl., fasc. I, p. 55; Cat. Fish. Gron., Brit. Mus., ed. Gray, p. 39. 
tJ In Lilljeborg, 1. c. 
h In the genus Paraliparis, a deep-sea form, found at a depth of from 300 to 600 fathoms in the Atlantic, from Bear Island down 
to Cape Vincent. See Collett, Norsk. Nordh. Exped. 1876 — 78, Zool., Fiske, p. 53 ( Paraliparis bathybii ); Buown-Goode, Proc. U. S. Nat. 
Mus. 1880, p. 477 ( Amitra liparina)-, Jordan and Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. Amer., Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 16, p. 739; Gthr, Voy. Chalk, 
vol, XXII, Rep. Deep Sea Fish., p. 68. 
