236 
CENTEONOTUS. 
The liead srnall; jaws equal; body long and mucli compressed; 
dorsal fin long, and with the anal running near to the tail, but not 
continuous with it. Ventral fins with two short rays, which are 
jugular. 
BUTTERFISII. 
SWORDICK. GUNNEL. NINE EYES. 
Gunndlus OoniiiUensium, Wii.i.otishby; p. 185, pi. G- 8, but tho 
Blennius gunnellus, 
(I It 
Blennie gunnel, 
Gunnellus vulgaris, 
(( (( 
Centronotiis gunnellus, 
specimen figured had died in a spasm. 
Linnjeos. Bloch; pi. 71. Donovan; pi. 27. 
Jenyns; Manual, p. 283. 
Lacepede. 
Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 207. 
Yarmll; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 269. 
Gunther; Cat. Br. M., vol. iii, p. 285. 
This species receives the name of Butterfish from its very 
slippery skin, from which and its active wriggling, it is difficult 
to grasp or hold it in the hand. The name of Gunnel, by 
which it is usually designated in books, was assigned to it by 
Kay, who supposed he had found it so called in Cornwall; but 
the origin of this name, which, on the authority of that 
eminent naturalist and excellent man has been widely spread, 
appears to have arisen from a somewhat ridiculous mistake. 
As this fish was new to his inquiries, he appears to have 
applied for information to some one as little informed as 
himself, and the answer he seems to have received w'as that 
it looked like the gunwhale (pronounced gunnel) of a boat, 
from which casual circumstance has arisen its best-known 
denomination. Bloch, who had no knowledge of the English 
language, has given a similar explanation of the term, which 
therefore he probably received from a travelling friend, to 
