120. GADID.E MERLUCIUS. 809 



erwise peculiar in several respects. Species several, very similar. 

 Large, voracious fishes, little valued as food. (Merlucius, the aucient 

 uame, meaning "Sea-Pike.") 



1247. M. biliDioaris (Mitch.) Gill. Hake. 



Grayish, darker above, dull silvery below; axil and edge of pectoral 

 somewhat blackish; inside of opercle dusky silvery; inside of mouth 

 dusky bluish; peritoneum nearly black. Top of head with the W- 

 shaped ridges very conspicuous; eye shorter than snout, and less 

 than iuterorbital width; maxillary reaching posterior border of pupil; 

 teeth not very large, smaller than in M. smiridus. Scales larger than 

 in other species; pectorals and ventrals long, the latter reaching three- 

 fourths distance to vent, their length about three-fifths that of head. 

 Head 3*; depth G. D. 13-41 ; A. 40; Lat. 1. 100-110. Coasts of New 

 England aud northward; rather common. 



(Stomodon bilinearis Mitchill, Kept. Fish. N. Y. 7, 1814 : Gadiis albidus Mitchill, Journ. 

 Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. i, 409: Merlticius albidus Storer, Hist. Fish. Mass. 30:}; Goode & 

 Bean, Bull. Essex Inst. xi, 9.) 



124. 191. siMiradoBS Raf. European Hake. 



Dusky above, silvery below; dorsal, caudal, and distal part of pec- 

 toral blackish; inside of opercle black; inside of mouth black poste- 

 riorly, pale in front; peritoneum black. Ventrals a little more than 

 half head; t -eth very long. Head large, 3; depth G. . D. 10-3i5; A. 

 36; vert. 23+26; Lat. 1. 150. Coasts of Europe; abundant; straying 

 to Greenland. Here described from specimens taken at Genoa. The 

 identity of the northern species with M. smiridus is perhaps uncertain. 



(G-adiis merlticcitis L. Syst. Nat. ; Raliuesciiie, Caratteri di Alcuni Nuovi Generi, 1810, 

 28: Merluclits vulyaris Fleming, Brit. Anim. 193: Merlucius eultjaria Giiuther, iv, 344: 

 Mpicopus gayi Giiuther, ii, 248.) 



1249. M, prodaactus (Ayres) Gill. MerJuccio. 



Silver gray; head dusted with coarse black dots; inside of mouth and 

 opercle jet black; peritoneum, silvery, with black specks. Head with 

 the W-shaped ridges less strongly marked; maxillary reaching center 

 of pupil; eye large; pectorals long and narrow, reaching vent; ventrals 

 much smaller than in M. bilinearis, reaching half way to vent; their 

 length about f that of head ; caudal somewhat forked. Scales quite 

 small, deciduous. Teeth moderate. Head 3f ; depth 7. D. 11-41; A. 

 43; V. 7. Lat. 1. 136. L. 3 feet. Pacific coast, from Santa Barbara 

 northward ; abundant. 



(Merlangus productns Ayres, Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sci. 1855, 64: Homalopomus trow- 

 tridgii Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1856, 132: Gadus productus GUnther, iv, 338 j 

 Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1863, 247.) 



