LYCODIN^. 



15 



name L. vahlii Reinh. were apparently not distinguishable from the Ingolf s two L. gracilis. At that 

 time I had no opportnnity of following np the matter; bnt now that I liave examined it more 

 thoroughly I find that my first impression was correct. 



Proportions of the body. In order to display the proof of the correctness of this po.sition, 

 I give here the measurements of a number of specimens, in part the two from the Ingcjif, identified 

 by me as L. gracilis^ in part the earlier ones ascribed by Reinhardt and Liitken to L. vahlii. 



Measurements of L. vahlii Reinh. from West Greenland: 



Total length in mm. 



Length of the head 



Distance from snout to anvis ■> 



Height over the anus » 



143 

 28 



54 

 13.5 



197 



37 



72 



19.5 



235 



45 

 88 

 -> 



244 



49 

 95 

 23 



260 



52 



99 

 22 



295 



5S.5 

 iiS 



25 



310 



65 



127 



32 



335 I 365 



66 j 87 



128 \ 152 



31 1 35 



385 

 90 



'57 

 30 



410 



90 



160 



415 



80 



170 



44 



The length of the head is therefore in females i8,S— 21 " o, in males 19,6— 23,8" o of the total 

 length; in the specimens from Scandinavia the figures, expressed in % from Collett's statement of 

 measurements, are 18,8—21,4 % and 20,4—22,7 'V>, respectively. Further, the head and the trunk 

 together (i. e. distance from snout to anus) is in the Greenland .specimens 36,4— 41,6° o, in those from 

 Scandinavia 37,1— 41,3 >^'o of the total length. — In other words, there is as close an agreement as is 

 possible between the Greenland L. vahlii and Scandinavian L. gracilis , with regard to the most 

 important measurements of the body '). 



Colour-markings. The smallest, Greenland specimen (one from the Ingolf Expedition) is a 

 male 143 mm., figured in Tab. I, fig. 2 a. The body is adorned with broad, dark cross-bands, 2 on the 

 trunk and 7 on the tail; on the tail posteriorly the bands extend right across and out to the borders 

 of the unpaired fins, further forward they reach below to only a little tinder the median line; for the 

 rest, each band has a light part in the centre which is not much darker than the grayish yellow ground- 

 colour of the back and sides. In the anterior part of the dorsal fin are 3 very dark, elongated spots, the 



M In lii.s work Skandinaviens Fiskar II, 1S95, p. 615, Prof. F. A. Suii tt has expressed the conjecture that L.gyaci/is, 

 which was only known at that time (in the literaturei from the original specimen of Sars, is the young stage of L. vahlii. 

 — In a later note On the Genus Lycodes {Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) V, 1900, p. 57), written after the appearance of Collett's 

 treatise on L. gracilis, the same statement is repeated, but at the same time, L. gracilis is given in his analytical table as a 

 peculiar form (iorealis) of Z. vahlii, specially characterised by this that the length of the head is usually > less than 22 " o of 

 the total length, whilst in L. vahlii iypica (forma arciica) the length of the head exceeds 22 0/0 of the total length ; with regard 

 to the first form it is correct that the length of the head is usually less than 22 ° o of the total length (see above); but it does 

 not agree with the results of my measurements to say, that the length of the head in L. vahlii exceeds more than 22 ° o of 

 the total length (see above) — for the simple reason that Smitt's L. vahlii-t is not the same as L. vahlii Reinhardt, as we 

 shall soon see. — Lastlv, in his latest contribution concerning the systematic relations of the genus, Smitt speaks thus: .Within the 

 limits of the former species (i. e. L. vahlii) it is easy enough to distinguish a local form, gracilis, living in the more southerly- 

 localities on the European side of the Atlantic and perhaps b\- this geographical selection from the true home of the 



genus stopped in the evolution and retaining the juvenile characters». (On the genus Lycodes. II. Bih. K. Sv. Vet.-.Akad. 

 Handl. Bd. 27, Afd. IV, No. 4, 1901, p. 20). About the same time I expressed a similar idea, as I also looked on L. gracilis as 

 a local form of L. vahlii (but as a dwarf form indeed, not as a form which had preser\'ed the characters of the young of L. vahlii; 

 cf. Vidensk. Medd. Naturh. Foren. Kbhvn. 1901, p. 202 and the present treatise p. 19), and in a footnote (1. c. p. 203) I cited Prof. 

 Smitt's opinion as agreeing essentially with my view; but since I have had the opportunity, tlianks to Prof. Smitt, of 

 examining his L. vahlii typical, at Stockholm, I must take back my earher half-agreement witli his view; the form mentioned 

 is not L. vahlii Reinhardt at all, but contains heterogeneous elenient.s, chiefly specimens of L. pallidus Collett and L. eudi- 

 pleurosticltis mihi — two species which, in my opinion, show no special relationship to L. vahlii Reinhardt. 



