58 
FISHES. 
In a specimen preserved in spirit, the blue and orange have entirely disappeared, and the yellow 
remains only on the fins, where it is indistinct. The colours are pale brown and black, with a patch 
of white in front of the dorsal fin. The ground colour is pale brown. The middle of the sides and 
the back are thickly marked with black spots of various sizes, which are occasionally so closely set as 
to give an appearance of bands crossing the sides: one of these occurs under the first dorsal; two 
under the second ; and one near the caudal. The spots of the under parts of the sides are larger and 
more irregular in form, and somewhat clouded. The fins are spotted on the rays with fuscous, the anal 
more numerously than the dorsal ; the caudal is darker at the tip, and has a darker band passing 
through the middle of its membrane ; the pectoral is almost black at its base, transparent in the 
succeeding membrane, and darker towards the tip ; it is spotted along the rays. The naked skin above 
and below the posterior suborbital bone is black. 
Our figure is taken from a specimen brought home by Captain Belcher, R. N., and presented by 
him to the Museum of the Zoological Society : it is coloured from a drawing preserved by Mr. Beechey. 
COTTUS CLAVIGER. Cuv. ft Val. 
Colt, corpore antice lato ; lined laterali incurtil muricatd ; prceoperculi spind elongatd interne bispinosd. 
D.7, 14. A.ll, C. 11. P.16. V. 3. 
PLATE XVI. FIGG. 1, 2. 
Cottus claviger. Cuv. ft Fa/., Hist. Nat. des Poiss. tom. 4 ,p. 195. pi. 79. f. 2. 
Hab. in Avatscha Bay, Kamtschatka. 
A specimen brought home by the expedition, and subsequently deposited in the British Museum, 
furnished to M. Valenciennes the materials for the description and figure published in the work 
above referred to. The description, except perhaps as regards the number of the fin-rays, is as correct 
as the bad state of the specimen w ould permit : but the figure is insufficient to give a satisfactory idea of 
tire fish, which requires also to be represented as seen from above. When thus seen, it bears so great 
a resemblance to the Cottus diceraus, Pall., that we at first regarded it as the young of that species, 
from which it scarcely differs except in the somewhat greater distance interposed between the dorsal 
fins, and the existence of only two spines on the inner side of the long spine of the praoperculum. The 
former of these differences, owing to the imperfect condition of the specimen, may perhaps appear greater 
than it 'really is in nature; the second, however, is probably specific, since it is unlikely that with 
advancing age the number of spines on a bony process should increase from two to six or eight. 
The body is throughout hispid ; and the three whitish cutaneous flakes above the anal fin, which are 
noticed by M. Valenciennes, scarcely exceed in size the other hispidities of the skin. 
There is no mention of this species in the notes of Mr. Collie. 
Cottus ventralis. Cuv.fy Val. 
Cott. corpore gracili suboequali ; lined laterali glabra; pinnis ventralibus elongatis. 
D. 9, 13. A. 17. C. 11. P.18. V. 3. 
Cottus ventralis. Cuv. ft Val., Hist. Nat. des Poiss. tom. 4. p. 194. pi. 79. Jig. 1. 
Hab. in Avatscha Bay, Kamtschatka. 
This species was also described originally by M. Valenciennes, from a specimen brought home by 
the expedition, and now' preserved in the British Museum. Mr. Collie’s notes inform us that the 
“pectoral fins have four somewhat zig-zag brownish bands from oval spots upon the rays: the 
dorsal and caudal are spotted brown in rather irregular lines . the anal is uniform : the ventrals reach 
beyond the vent, and are each composed of three rays spotted with white. The spots are all oblong. 
There is a fleshy lappet behind the anus.” — C. 
These are the only particulars noticed by Mr. Collie, beyond those already recorded by 
MM. Cuvier and Valenciennes. It is stated that “two specimens were caught in the seine.” — C. 
