LYCODIN.E. 



29 



Its dimensions are as follows: 



Total length ^ 192 mm. 



Length of the head 39 — 



Distance between snont and anus 73 — 



Height over the anus 17 — 



The length of the head is thus 20,3 °'o of the total length and falls therefore within the limits 

 of variation occurring in the adult specimens from Finmark; thus, the measurements given b\- 

 Prof. Collet t, reckoned in percentages, show the length of the head as 19,2-24"/,, of the total length 

 (in 10 males 22,2 — 24 "/o, in 12 females 19,2 — 21,970). Again, the head and trunk together (or distance 

 between snout and anus) is 38 "o of the total length, which figure is very close to that of the adult 

 individuals, where (in 4 specimens) it is 38,3 — 42,9%')- 



It is the colouration however which makes one think at once of L.esmarkii. The ground- 

 colour is dusk)- brown above, yellowish white below; the scales are whitish and show as light points 

 against the dark background. On the brown ground-colour the body is marked b\- 7 whitish \-ellow 

 bands which are distributed wide apart with exception of the last. The foremost of these bands 

 extends from the gill-cover over the edge on to the middle line of the neck; the band on the one 

 side does not reach so high up and does not therefore meet with that on the other side. The second 

 band lies almost over the end of the pectorals; it begins at the upper margin of the dorsal fin and 

 divides like a horse-shoe a little below the line of the back. The third band, which lies somewhat 

 behind the anus, is similarh- branched but more angularh'; the fourth and fifth bands have also 

 more or less the distinct form of a A- The si.xth band as also the seventh, which lies near to the 

 sixth, just at the end of the tail, extends across the tail and out to the borders of the fins in the form 

 of forward projecting arches. — If one compares this with Collett's figure of an adult L.esmarkii 

 (1. c. PI. Ill, fig. 22) one sees that the colouration of the latter is onh- a further development of that in 

 the present young specimen, as the bands by much branching have assumed the form of festoons. 



The pectoral fins have 22 rays, which number agrees with that of the adults from Finmark; 

 in five of these I have counted 22 — 23 rays, the above mentioned specimen of 443 mm. has 23 ra\'S-). 

 The lower rays are gradually shortened so that the posterior margin of the fin is evenly rounded as 

 in the adults. The dorsal fin has 117 ra}-s, the anal 102, which numbers also fall within the variations 

 found in the adult specimens from Finmark, viz. 113 — 118 ra^'s for the dorsal, 97 — 102 for the anal, 

 according to Collett. 



The scaly covering extends forward to the light band on the neck, to the base of the 

 pectorals and ventrals, also some wa\' on to the unpaired fins, especially the dorsal fin, but the fore- 

 most part of the anal fin on the other hand is naked. The scales have therefore almost reached their 

 complete distribution. 



1) .\.s it might be of interest to have the ineasuremeiit.s of the specimen ca. 443 mm. mentioned above, the .smallest 

 hitherto obtained from Finmark, I give them here: distance between snout and anus 175 mm. 139.5 "o of the total lengthl, length 

 of the head 90 mm. (20,3 °/o of the total length), height over the anus 54,5 mm. (12,3 <> o of the total length). The specimen is 

 badlv preserv'ed and the colour has almost entirely disappeared, the internal organs have been removed so that the sex cannot be 

 determined. 



-) When Collett gives 20—23 raj-s, it must be remembered, that the lower number has arisen through including 

 under L. esmarkii the specimens with smaller number of fin-rays (= L. eudipUurostictus) from the Norwegian Xorth-.A.tlantic 

 Expedition. 



