Gobiidæ.

Body elongate, low, naked, or scaly. Teeth generally small, sometimes with canines. The infraorbital ring does not articulate with the præoperculum. The two dorsal fins separated, or more or less united,^* the spinous portion being always the less developed, and composed of flexible spines; the anal similarly developed as the soft dorsal; ventrals with one spine and five rays;^† sometimes both ventrals united into a disk. Gill-opening moro or less narrow, the gill-membranes being attached to the isthmus; four gills; pseudobranchiæ. A prominent papilla near the vent.^‡ Air-bladder generally absent. Pyloric appendages, none.

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Carnivorous fishes, living at the bottom of the shores and of the fresh waters of the temperate and tropical regions. This family offers numerous instances of the fact that a part of the individuals of one and the same species are entirely confined to fresh waters, whilst others live in the sea.

Gobius lentiginosus. Coast of New Zealand.

——amiciensis. Coast of New Zealand.

——ornatus. North-west coast.

——criniger. North-west coast.

——bynoensis. West coast.

——papuensis. North coast.

Eleotris mogurnda. Clarence and northern rivers.

——gobioides. New Zealand rivers.

——Coxii. New South Wales rivers.

——compressus. New South Wales rivers.

——australis. New South Wales rivers.

——grandiceps. New South Wales rivers.

——brevirostris. Cape York.

——lineoeatus. Queensland rivers.