152 
GOBtUS. 
The head short before the eyes; cheeks full; eyes high on the head. 
The body moderately compressed. Dorsal tins two, the first with ua- 
branohed but flexible rays; tail round. The ventral fins thoracic, and 
united together, more or less in the form of a funnel at the root. 
Some species of this family are to be met with in almost every part 
of the world, and so numerous are they in the warmer portions of 
the ocean, that in Dr. Gunther’s, “Catalogue of the Fishes Freserved 
in the British Museum,” chiefly procured in these regions, upwards of 
a hundred and fifty kinds are specified, which may prove at last to 
be no more than a moderate portion of the whole race. But the 
whole of this numerous family are of small size, and many of them 
bear a near resemblance to each other; and, as the species are also 
subject to variation in colour, and, in a less degree, even of form, it 
happens that a considerable amount of uncertainty attends the attempt 
to distinguish the species, even in those which have been recognised 
as natives of our own seas; a circumstance which renders it still more 
difficult to decide upon the correctness of the synonymes applied by 
other observers; and the difficulty is scarcely lessened, if at all, by a 
reference to the figures of them that are contained in books, or by the 
descriptive names which have been arbitrarily applied. 
An attempt thus to assign the species has been made with much care, 
but with little satisfaction to myself: it has therefore been thought 
more advisable to avoid the further perpetration of error, by confining 
myself to the description and figures of such as have fallen in my 
way after a rather extensive and diligent search; and that the reference 
to the synonymes of other writers should only extend so far as I feel 
confidence in their accuracy, with the expression of a doubt in cases 
where our figures and descriptions do not closely agree. In one or 
two cases only is a species described as different from any one generally 
recognised; and this is none with no other intention than to place 
on record fishes which seem to be so far removed from those hitherto 
known, as at least to demand further research. There is a limit to 
variation even in the most variable; and there are instances where 
creatures which had long been regarded as only varieties of known 
kinds, have, on further inquiry, been admitted as true species, — an 
observation that may be applied to these fishes as well as to others. 
