ANACANTHINI. 373 



MERLANGUS POLARIS (Leech). 



Merlangns polaris, Sabine, App. Parry's First Voyage, p. ccxi. ; Ross 

 (Sir James Clark), App. Parry's Third Voyage, p. 110. 



RADII. 



B. 7-7; D. 12-15-19=46 ; A. 17-21 = 38 ; C. 45 ; P. 19 ; V. 6* 

 13-14-19=46; 16-23 = 39; 45; 19; 6f 



14-16-19 = 49; 17-22 = 39; 42; 18; 6J 



13-15-20=48; 17-21 = 38; 42 to 48 ; 18; 6 



This species was discovered on Sir John Ross's first voyage 

 to Baffin's Bay, and was named by Dr. Leach, but was first 

 published by Colonel Sabine, who describes a specimen that 

 was taken by a net when swimming on the surface of Baffin's 

 Bay, on Sir Edward Parry's first voyage in search of a North- 

 west Passage. Sir James Clark Ross also mentions this fish 

 in the Appendix to Parry's Third Voyage, and there states 

 that it is abundant in all the Arctic seas that had been visited 

 by the North-west Expeditions up to that time. The speci- 

 mens that form the subjects of the present notice were ob- 

 tained by Sir Edward Belcher in Northumberland Sound, 

 being the most northerly position in which the fish has been 

 taken. It was seen in great numbers in Parry's second voyage, 

 in the Duke of York's Bay, north of Southampton Island, and 

 Sir James Ross informs us that it is the principal food, in cer- 

 tain seasons, of numerous sea-fowl. When hotly pursued by 

 the beluga, or white whale, it has been observed, in its endea- 

 vours to escape, to leap by hundreds on the ice : the members 

 of the Expedition profited by this circumstance, and by its 

 being frequently left by the ebbing tide in quantities in rocky 

 pools, to obtain several excellent meals. 



Sir Edward Belcher's specimens appear to be young, and 

 the species may, for anything we know, attain a considerable 

 size, in which case there must be some change in its external 



* Belcher, pale specimen. J Sabine. 



f Ditto, dark specimen. Ross, average. 



