GOB 
To fwallow haflily with tumult and uoife.—Tlie fneep 
\vere fo keen upon the acorns, that tliey gobbkd up now 
and then a piece of tlie coat along with them. L'EJlrange. 
Of lafl: year’s corn in barn great ftore j 
Fat turkies gobbling at the door. Prior. 
GOB'BLER, /. One that devours in hafte; a gor- 
mand ; a greedy eater. 
GOB'BO (Pietro Paolo Cortonefe), a celebrated 
painter of fruit and landscapes, born at Cortona in 
1580, and acquired the principles of defign from his 
father ; but was afterwards the difciple of Crefeentio 
at Rome, and perfected himfelf in the mod effential 
parts of his profeflion by ftudying after nature. His 
merit foon recommended him to the notice and edeem 
of the mod able judges at Rome ; and he found a ge¬ 
nerous patron in cardinal Borghefe, who employed him 
to adorn his palace. The fruit which he painted was 
fo expredive of nature, that nothing could poilibly ex¬ 
cel it. He died in 1640. 
GOB'ELIN (Giles), a celebrious French dyer in tlie 
reign of Francis I. difeovered a method of dying a beau¬ 
tiful fcarlet, and his name has been given ever fince to 
the fined French I'carlets. His houfe, in the fuburb of 
St. Marcel at Paris, and the river he made ufe of, are 
dill called the Gobelins. An academy for drawing, and a 
mamifaddory of fine tapedries, were eredled under his 
iiifpettion in 1666 ; for which reafon tlie tapedries are 
called the Gobelins. See the article Dying, vol. vi. 
p. 142. 
GO'BETWEEN, f. One that tranfaiSts bufinefs by 
running between two parties. Commonly in an ill fenje .— 
Even as you came in to me, her adidani, or gobetzueen, 
parted from me : I fay, I lhall be with her between ten 
and eleven. Shakefpeare. 
GO'BI, an immenfe defert of Afia, which originates 
on the north fide of tlie fountains of the Ganges, and 
of the Indus, in about latitude 37. 30. its courie is 
uorth-eaderly betw-een longitude 74. 45. and 105. ead, 
bounding or dividing part of Hindoodan, Thibet, wed- 
ern Tartary, Tangut, and the Monguls, and ends in 
latitude 49. 20. at the lake Dalay-nor, in Chinefe Tar¬ 
tary ; the whole extent is not lefs than two thoufand 
three hundred and ninety-feven miles. It is named the 
Gobi, by the Indians; and by the Chinefe, Skamo ixnd 
Han Kai. It confids of lands equally fleeting and tre- 
«nendous as thole of Arabia, which would be impalfable 
liad not nature placed acrofs them, at very remote dif- 
tances, three chains of liilis, or narrow trafts of folid 
ground, the roads which travellers mud take; and 
amidd this ocean of land were pleal'ant vallies, entirely 
infulated by the fand. Occalionally, in the middle 
-ages, thefe roads vrere the palTage which merchants 
took, either from the countries bordering on the Ciaf- 
pian Sea, or from Europe, as their bufinefs might call 
Them tiirough Tartary and Bucharia into India, or the 
didant China. 
GOBIOMO'RUS, y. The name of a genus infrituted 
by Cepede, for lonie of tlie fpecies of Gonius, which 
lee. 
GO'BIUS, J. iKie'Sioc, Gr. from m3 goba, Heb.] 
In ichtJiyology, tlie Goby ; a genus of fillies be¬ 
longing to the order of thoracici. Tlie generic cha¬ 
racter is—ventral fins united and funnel-diaped. I'iiefe 
fins, according to fome writers, ferve them to fallen them- 
felves to the loeks ; which, however, does not appear 
probable, as they have no capability of penetrating the 
fniocth furface of a done; from tliis idea they liave ne- 
verthelefs received tiieir name, rock-jijli, among us ; or 
rather becaufe tiiey commonly keep at i!ie bottoni of the 
water, among rocks or dones. They have a long body, 
covered with fcales ; and do not grow very large. Tlie 
head isfmall, laterally comprelied in fome fpecies, and 
flattened in others ; but in all, the body is ibmewhat 
rounded, 'i'iie eyes are at tlie top of the head, and 
Vol. VIII. No. 532, 
GOB 645 
fiand near together; between them, and behind one 
another, are two little round holes, which doubtlefs 
are the nodrils and the openings of the ears. The 
aperture of the mouth is fmall, and the jaws are armed 
with little diarp teeth ; the tongue is fliort and trun¬ 
cated, and the palate armed with four rugged bones. 
Tlie gills lie one over the other, and contain from four 
to five rays ; the aperture is fmall and round. The la¬ 
teral line goes flraight from one end of the body to the 
otiier. One tiling remarkable in this genus is, that the 
end of the palfage of the ovarium turns towards the 
anus, and is wart-fliaped. 'I'hete filli live on woims, 
aquatic infeCls, fpawn, and young fry. I'liey are nioftly 
fea-fi(h, whence they obtained the name oi fea-gudgeons-, 
but fome of the fpecies fince difeovered are tound to 
inliabit rivers. Cepede has difliributed them into feve- 
ral genera, and the genera into fubdivifions ; and the 
fpecies he arranges according to the number of rays in 
the fecond dorfal fin. Thirty-ljx fpecies liave been 
afeertained', which are as follow : 
I. Gobius niger, the black goby, or rock-fifli. This 
is eafily diftinguifhed by the yellow and black fpots on 
a whitifh ground, and by having fourteen rays in the 
fecond dorfal fin ; there are four rays in the membrane 
of the gills, ten in the ventral fin, twelve in the anal, 
fourteen in the tail,, and fix in the fi'rft dorfal. The 
whole fifli is fliaped like a wedge ; the head is large, 
and diminiflies gradually to the tail ; it is alfo in- 
fenfibly flattened; and the body, which is laterally 
compreiTed, becomes round towards the tail ; the jaws 
are of equal length, armed with two rows of fn'arp 
teeth ; the eyes are lozenge-fiiaped, puiiil black, iris 
filvery ; the membrane of the gills is large, as -well a,s 
their aperture; the back is arched, marked with black 
rings, the lateral line not vifible ; the belly is large and, 
yellow ; the anus is in the middle of the body, which 
is ftudded with little black and yellow fpots. The fins 
are of abluifh brown, and ornamented with fmall fpots ; 
the rays of the dorfal and anal fins are Angle ; the reft 
branched; they are all fbft, except thofe of the firff .■ 
dorfal, which are fomewhat hard ; the pedloral fins are 
fhort, the others long ; the tail fin is rounded. See th.e 
Plate, fig. 2. This is a rapacious filh ; feeds on the 
young fry, and aquatic infefts. It is found in the feas 
of Europe and Afia. In fpring they approach the 
fhores and the mouths of rivers, to propagate ; they 
fpawn in May and June, cafting their ova on ftones, as 
remarked by Ariflotle and confirmed by Pontoppidan. 
They grow to the length of fix inches, and while young 
are themfelves often tlie prey of fome fpecies of cod. 
The flefli is well-tafled, refembling the fmaller perch. 
They are taken in the gulphs near Heiligoland, where 
they fifh for them in the fame manner as for cod : ac¬ 
cording to Falck, they are taken alio in the Achiuba 
and Volga. 
2. Goliius bicolor, the black-finned goby. Specific 
charafter, body and tail brown ; fins black. There are 
fix rays in the firll dorfal fin, lixtecn in the fecond, 
nineteen in the peftorals, twelve in the ventrals, fifteen 
in the anal, and feventeen in the tail. This is found in 
the Mediterranean ; . and is about three inches long. 
The rays of the fins appear beyond the membrane 
which unites them. It was ^rfldilcovered by Brunniciie. 
3. Gobius cruentatus, the bloody goby. Specific 
charadler, the mouth fpotted with red ; the rays of the 
dorfal fins reaching beyond the membrane. There are 
five rays in the membrane of the gills, (ix in the firit 
dorfal, fixteen in the fecond, nineteen in the peftorais, 
twelve in the ventrals, in the anal and tail fifteen each." 
This inhabits the Mediterranean, and is perhaps only a 
variety of the jozo ; it much refcmbles alfo the follow- 
ing Ipeci'-s. Not the mouth only, but the throat, 
opercula, and feveral of the fin:., are marked with red 
fpots like pimples, whence Bonaterra calls pujlukux. 
'i'he general colour is a pale white, with brown tranf- 
i B T'erfe 
