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168 her own dimensions. Mr. Yarrell obtained a specimen seven inches long, full of young ready for birth, which were one inch and a half long. Mr. Neill, on the other hand, observed in the market at Edinburgh, a female fifteen inches in length, from which several dozens of living young escaped; and these were from four to five inches long. Mr. Low, in his Fauna of the Orkney Islands, observes, that when the fact of the viviparous habit of this fish first fell under his notice, he put a number of the small fry into a tumbler of sea-water, in which he kept them alive for many days, changing the water at every tide. They grew considerably larger, and continued very lively, until one hot day, when, unfortunately forgetting to provide them with a fresh supply of water, they died to the very last fish.

The most common of our Blennies is the Shanny (Blennius pholis, ), sometimes called the Smooth Shan, an epithet probably alluding to the absence of those fringed appendages to the head with which all our other true Blennies are furnished. Its form will be perceived from