The little creatures jumped and dived about in all directions, all their motions being extremely violent. I quickly perceived the error which had been committed, and, moreover, discovered to my chagrin that such error could not possibly be rectified for some time, on account of my not having by me any reserve of pure salt water. Taking several of the fishes in my hand, I stroked their backs with a camel-hair pencil, and was pleased to find that as their alarm subsided their natural hue returned. My being obliged to place my pets in their unhappy and pestilential home again was, as the reader may suppose, a source of regret to me; but I had some hopes that they might by chance survive, and become used to the 'vapour of their dungeon,' at all events until such time as I could hasten to the sea-side and procure a new supply of water. My expectations of such a result were built upon the fact, that although four of the fishes had changed colour, the small Blenny still retained its natural hue. How did this happen? it will be asked. I answer, by little Dombey (doing as his brethren had always hitherto done in similar circumstances) leaping on to a ledge of rock that projected out of the water, and there breathing the fresh air in safety. On the following morning I peeped into the vessel, and saw by their upturned gills that all my finny proteges were dead! 'All my pretty ones? Did I say all?' All except the smallest of the pack, he was still dressed in his sombre coat, and gracefully reclining upon the rocky couch above mentioned. How thankfully he received the breakfast that I temptingly offered upon the tips of my feeding brush, and how grateful he seemed to be, when, after the lapse of a few hours, I was enabled to let him float again in his pure native element, a fresh supply of which had been procured with as little delay as possible! The Viviparous Blenny differs from the other British Blennies 'in the circumstance to which its name refers--that of bringing forth its young alive, which seem perfectly able to provide for themselves from the moment they are excluded.' It is a most gentle, graceful-looking fish, but as far as my experience goes, one that is impossible to tame, or rather, I should say, embolden. All my efforts to domesticate various specimens have proved unavailing; and in spite of the most earnest and kindly attention, they have generally pined away and died within a week after their introduction to the aquarium. From the illustration on Plate 12 the reader will have no difficulty in recognising the original, should he by chance meet with it hiding among the tangle, or beneath the stones by the sea-shore.