I have taken in similar circumstances a little fish which is considered
very rare on our shores, the Butterfly Blenny.[109] The Mediterranean
coasts of Europe are its proper home, where it resorts to the tufts
of weeds, feeding on minute _Crustacea_ and _Mollusca_. Yarrell cites
three examples as having been obtained by dredging off South Devon,
and one from which his own figure was taken, which was obtained among
the rocks of Portland. As he alludes to no other British examples, he
probably knew of no more. Mr. R. Q. Couch, in his _Notes on the Fishes
of the Land’s End_, says, “A single specimen of this fish was taken
by a trawl-net in 1845, but the spot on the first dorsal fin was so
obscure as scarcely to be noticed.”
[Illustration: