_Corpus elongatum, compressum, squamis minutissimis obtectum. Caput
nudum, tentaculis nullis. Dentes maxillares seriebus plurimis
dispositi, velutini; multis, hic illic sparsis, fortioribus,
subconicis vel aculeiformibus: vomerini et palatini velutini omnes.
Linguæ linea longitudinalis media dentibus minutissimis aspera.
Membrana branchialis undique libera, subter gulam continua et
profundè emarginata, sex-radiata. Pinnæ dorsalis et analis spinis
plurimis, ad apices laciniis membranaceis investitis. Lineæ
laterales tres distinctæ._
Mr. Darwin has brought home several specimens of a small fish from New
Zealand, which appears to me to form the type of a new genus in the
family of the Blennies. It is most nearly allied to _Clinus_, to which
group it may perhaps be subordinate in point of value; but it offers
several differences which I shall proceed to point out. In the first
place the number of anal spines is much greater, a character of
considerable importance in this family, in which they hardly ever amount
to more than two, whilst in some instances all the rays of this fin
appear to be articulated. Secondly, in addition to the bands of vomerine
and palatine teeth, which are found in _Clinus_, this genus has a narrow
line of very minute teeth running longitudinally down the middle of the
tongue, communicating a sensible roughness to the touch. Thirdly, the
ventrals are more backward, their point of insertion being only a very
little in advance of that of the pectorals. Lastly, it is remarkably
characterized by having three, or one might almost say four, distinct
lateral lines. The uppermost of these lines commences at the posterior
angle of the opercle, whence it turns abruptly upwards and runs
immediately beneath the base of the dorsal: the second runs along the
median line of the body, but does not commence till a little beyond the
base of the pectoral: the third commences a little above the insertion
of the ventrals, and answers to the upper one, taking its course a
little above the anal: there is also part of a fourth, which originates
between the ventrals, and joins the third at the commencement of the
anal. All these lines are marked by larger and differently formed scales
from those on the body, (which last are very minute,) with an elevated
tube on each, the tubal pore, however, being most distinct on the middle
or second line. In its general form, and in the large number of _dorsal_
spines, this genus resembles _Clinus_: the form of the head and mouth
are for the most part similar; also all the parts of the gill-cover; as
well as the branchial membrane, which is six-rayed and free all round.
The tags at the tips of the dorsal and anal spines are very conspicuous,
and give those fins somewhat of a _labriform_ appearance.
It is not improbable that the _Clinus littoreus_ of Cuvier and
Valenciennes, which they have characterized from a drawing and
description in the Banksian Library, and which is said to possess
twenty-five spines in the anal fin, may belong to this new genus. It is
observed by those authors, in reference to its peculiarity in this
respect, that such a circumstance, if correct, would be unexampled, and
would tend to separate it from the genus in which they have placed it.
It is also worth remarking that the _C. littoreus_ comes from New
Zealand, the same country as that whence Mr. Darwin obtained the above.
In the circumstance of having three lateral lines, this new genus seems
to have some affinity with _Chirus_ of Steller; but the scales are not
ciliated as they are said to be in this last, neither are the ventrals
five-rayed.