438 Dr. broussonet’s Account of 
Enchelyoptis , which is indeed not a good Family, fince it com- 
prehends the genera of Gymnotus , Anarrhichas , CepoJa , ZJ/eT/- 
Cob lit s , &c. 
linne in his defcription of the Ophidium barb at urn fays, 
that its whole body is covered with oblong fpots, without any 
regular direction. Dr. gouan, in his defcription of the genus 
of the Ophidium, does not mention the fcales; but gives the 
fpots as a generic character. The laft author who has men- 
tioned thefe fpots, and given a defcription of this fifh, is Mr. 
brun niche in Ins Ichthyologia MaJJilienJis . 
Having adduced the various opinions of the writers on th tOphi- 
dium^ and endeavoured to reconcile their fentiments, we now pro- 
ceed to give the defcription of this fifh, which is fo very remarkable 
for its Angularities. The genus of Ophidium has the following 
principal characters, viz . the body long; the fins of the back, 
tail, and anus, confounded in one; no fin on the under part of 
the body ; and the eyes covered by the common Ikin. There' 
are befides many other characters which it is needlefs to obferve 
here, fince I intend not to defcribe all the fpecies of the genus, 
but only to mention them. The firft fpecies (which is the 
fpecies of which we are treating) is diftinguifhed by its cirri. 
The fecond differs from the former not only by the abfence of 
the cirri, but alfo by many other marks, artedi, in his 
account of this fpecies, has adopted the fynonymy of schone- 
velde, who defcribes a fifh under the name of Ophidian irn - 
berbe jiavum ; but this fifh, which is the Blennius gunnellUs 
linn, is certainly very different from the Ophidian imberbc , 
linn, the rays of its dorfal fin being prickly; which circum- 
ftance perhaps induced linne to place the Ophidium among 
the Acanthopterygii in the firft editions of his Syftema, in which 
he followed the claffificafion of artedi. Perhaps, for the 
fame 
