2.-The Blenniide of South Africa.-By J. D. F. GILCHRIST, M.A., D.Sc., PH.D.; and W. WARDLAW THOMPSON.

THE Blenniidæ (Blennies, or Klipfish) of South Africa, though comparatively abundant and easily procured, are very imperfectly known. Those that have been described are often so insufficiently characterised that they cannot with certainty be identified, due also in a large measure to the procuring of isolated specimens and the description of unimportant characters.

The following review of this family of fish in South African waters is based on collections made at Walwich Bay by Mr. Scully, at East London by Mr. Brooking and Mr. J. Wood, at Natal by Mr. Romer Robinson, and at various places by the authors.

The most prominent feature is the presence of numerous species of the genus Clinus, there being 22 species as contrasted with 16 of all the other genera of the Blenniidæ represented here. Of the nine known species we have been able to identify eight with a fair amount of certainty, and to draw up a revised description of these from an examination of numerous specimens. The one species of which we have not yet found a specimen is C. heterodon, and Valenciennes, original description of this is merely abstracted. Twelve new species and one new variety are now described; most of them are well characterised, but in the case of two (Clinus superciliosus var. arborescens, and Clinus ornatus) it was only after an examination of many specimens that we found it necessary to separate them from Clinus superciliosus.

The distribution of this genus (Clinus) is also of interest, the species representing it being much more abundant in the colder waters of the Cape Peninsula and West Coast. Only one species has been found, by Mr. Robinson, in Natal, though he readily procured specimens of Blennius, Salarias, &c. From personal examination of such localities as the Cape Peninsula and Durban we have found that this is a most striking feature of the marine fauna, various species of Clinus occurring in almost every rock-pool

of the first-named locality, and species of Blennius and Salarias occurring as abundantly at the latter.

We have found that a natural division of the genus Clinus may be made into those with a distinct but not separate crest, and those without one. Ogilby (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales X., 1885, p. 226) has suggested the generic name Petraites for species in which "the third dorsal spine is connected to the basal portion of the first spine of the second dorsal," and the name Clinus for those in which the third spine "is connected to the middle or upper half of the first spine of second dorsal." In our South African species, however, it is found that the height at which the connecting membrane of the crest is attached to the fourth spine is not constant, varying from a fourth or fifth to a half in individuals of the same species (Clinus superciliosus); under these circumstances it seems preferable-whilst retaining for the present the genus Clinus in the text as including both forms-to keep this name for the crested form and to group the non-crested under another genus, for which we suggest the name Clinoides. We retain the name Cristiceps for those forms in which the first dorsal is distinctly separate from the second, the membrane not being joined on to the second; and this irrespective of the position of the first dorsal spines with reference to the eye.

FAMILY BLENNIIDE.

Body elongate, generally low and more or less cylindrical; naked, or covered with moderate sized or small scales which are ctenoid or cycloid; lateral line variously developed, wanting, or duplicated; mouth large or small, teeth various. Dorsal fin occupying nearly the whole of the back and sometimes joined to the caudal; formed either wholly of spines, or of spines and soft rays, or of soft rays alone. Anal fin long, similar to soft dorsal, with or without anterior. spines, and sometimes joined to caudal. Ventral fins jugular or sub-thoracic, usually formed of one hidden spine and from one to three soft rays, which are sometimes divided. Caudal fin well developed. No bony stay to sub-orbitals which often have a shelf. Scapula perforate.

Fishes of moderate or small size generally found about the foreshore, though some are known to inhabit deeper water. Mostly carnivorous and oviparous; the genus Clinus, however, is mostly viviparous.