1898-1902. No. 25.] 



FISHES. 



than the European sea-scorpion, this width in the former being fre- 

 quently equal to length of the eye, or at any rate not less than 3 / 4 of 

 it, whereas the width in the latter is always that is to say, in the 

 specimens examined less than the length of the eye, at the most 

 !) /io of it, and may be as little as 7 / 12 ? or not much more than half. 

 There is not, however, any distinct boundary that separates the two 

 forms. 



In speaking of the dorsal fin, Dresel says that in C. groenlandicus 

 the spine-rayed dorsal fin was comparatively higher, the longest ray 

 being J / 5 or V of the total length (measured to the base of the caudal 

 fin), while in C. scorpius it is no more than 1 / 7 or V 8 of the same 

 length. An error must have found its way in here; for if we look at 

 Dresel's measurements of the Greenland specimens, we find that the 

 longest "dorsal spine" goes respectively 6, 8, GVa, 7, and 5 3 / 4 times into 

 the total length (to the base of the caudal fin). In order to judge of 

 this myself, I have measured the same specimens as before, and will 



here give the result. The "total length" is to the base of the caudal fin. 



