1 6 LYCODIN^. 



2nd and 3rd of which are in line each with its cross-band, whilst the ist, in the very front corner of 

 the fin, is in line with the posterior edge of the foremost cross-band. Specimens from the vSkager 

 Rak show the same colonr-markings as the foregoing, bnt the comparison mnst be made with mnch 

 smaller specimens, becanse the cross-bands in those from the Skager Rak ha\e already disappeared 

 as a rnle at the same size as the above. 



The next larger specimen is a female of 197 mm. long, determined as L. vahlii b\- Liitken. 

 The colonr-markings are as in the foregoing; the dark cross-bands are howe\er somewhat fainter, bnt 

 that may perhaps be dne to their longer preservation in spirit. 



Observation of the remaining specimens shows that the colonr-markings of the yonng become 

 more and more indistinct with age, especialh- in the males. Even in the largest female, 415 mm. long, 

 there are still traces of the dark bands, although they are partly resolved into ring-shaped markings. 

 The larger males, on the other hand, are darker than the females on the whole, so that the bands, 

 partly in the form of rings, can scarcely be discerned or have entirely disappeared; at the same time, 

 the belh- is often of a .sharply delimited, relatively light, .sometimes even qixite white colonr (Tab. I, 

 fig. 2 c). The dark spot on the anterior corner of the dorsal fin is vers- conspicnons both in the male 

 (Tab. I, fig. 2 c) and female (Tab. I, fig. 2 b), sometimes also the second and third spot. 



The seal}' co\'ering has already attained essentially to its fnllest extent in tlie 143 mm. long 

 specimen (Tab. I, fig. 2 a), as it extends forwards to the neck (on a line across the gill openings), to the 

 bases of the pectoral fins and of the ventrals as well as ont on to the nnpaired fins. 



The lateral line is as in L. gracilis ■. it conrses along the ventral border of the tail and 

 rises dorsally over the anus in (jrder to reach the upper notch of the gill-opening i). 



The number of fin-rays differs somewhat from that in the Scandinavian specimens, which is 

 probabh in relation to the fact that the Greenland form, taken on the whole, is a stronger race; 

 in this regard also, the Iceland specimens are transition-forms so that no specific distinctions can be 

 grounded on these differences. This point will be further considered later (p. 19). 



Since the general appearance of the body offers no mark of distinction either — that the 

 species reaches a ver\' much greater size at Greenland than at Iceland (cf. p. 19) denotes again onh a racial 

 difference — I look upon it as certain, that the Greenland L. vahlii and the Scandinavian L. gracilis 

 belong to the same species. 



Lycodes liignbris Liitken. 



Tab. II, Fig. i a, b. 



Before treating of this form I think it opportune to refer to some L\codes which ha\e receuth- 

 been received at the Zoological Museum from the east coast of Iceland. They were procured b\ 



■) This seems to dispute Liitken's observation: .As Hr. CoUett has called to my attention, there is some rea.son 



for considering there is another lateral line, a niediolateral, in one of the present specimens (Nr. 7) (Vidensk. Medd. 



Naturh. Foren. iSSo, p. 312) and Collett's still more definite assertion; it must however be admitted, that one of the 

 typical specimens of L. vahlii exhibits traces of a niediolateral line (The Norw. North-Atl. Exp., Fishes, p. S6|. From an exact 

 examination of the specimen concerned, I have come to the resvilt that Collett's observation was perfectly correct; but at tlie 

 same time I am nevertheless of the opinion that this .specimen is not /.. vahlii at all — in spite of the fact that it is one 

 of Reinhardt's type-.speciniens but on the contran,-, is identical as species with the fishes brought home by the Norwegian 

 North-Atlantic Expedition from Spitzbergen, which Collett took for young specimens of L. esmarkii Coll., but which I have 

 been obliged to distinguish as a special species (see further under L. en(iip/eurosiic/us \i. },b). 



