48 



LYCODIN^. 



centre'); on the anal fin the dark bands may be scattered or fused together to form a lengthy patch 

 on the fin posteriorly. In this group of specimens also, the scales appear as lighter points, and the 

 belly and gill-covers are dark. — This remarkable variation in colour-marking is not a sex-difference 

 as both males and females occur in both colour-forms. 



The sexual organs are little developed in the specimens to hand. In the largest male 

 (175 mm. long) the testes are 10 mm. long, 4,5 mm. broad, without developed free folds. In the largest 

 female (170 mm.) taken on the 23rd of Jul)-, the ovary is ca. 10 mm. long, and contains a tolerably 

 small number of eggs of 1,5 mm. in diameter. 



It is especially the less elongated body-form, the somewhat shorter tail and the relatively large 

 eyes, which justifies the variet>- similfs. 



Lycodes palHdus 



\'ar. squamiventer m. 



Tab. IV, fig. 2 a, b. 



The 12 specimens, now to be mentioned in more detail, were taken partly by the Ingolf 

 Expedition of 1896 in the waters east from Iceland (St. 105, 104, loi) and north from the Fseroe Isles 

 (St. 141), partly b)' the «Michael Sars Expedition of 1902 off the Shetland-Norway < Slope ; the depths 

 were 537 — 957 fathoms. 



The most important proportions of these 12 specimens are as follows: 



Total length in mm. j 117.5 



Length of the head — j 24,5 



Distance between snout and anus — il 47 



Height over the anus — 11 



a o 



O " 



S 

 ^ 



147 

 31 

 60 



14 



155 

 34 

 63.75 

 i4>75 



~ o 



O " 

 M . 



S o 



O " 



$ 



s -a- 

 o " 



» o 



O " 



170 

 36 



68 

 16 



230 



50 

 90 



22 



24s 



55 

 97 

 25 



248 I 260 

 51! 51.5 

 94 104.5 



•25 28 



The form of the body is similar to that in the typical L. pallidus ; the anus has almost 

 the same position, namely in its distance from the snout which is here 37,9 — 41,1 % of the total length, 

 and the height over the anus is 9,4 — 10,8% of the same length. 



The head is relatively shorter than in both preceding forms, as its length is only 19,6 — 22,4% 

 of the total length, somewhat depressed, especially in adult specimens. The eyes have a similar 

 length as in the typical L. pallidtts^ their longitudinal diameter being 3—4,4% of the total length. 

 The snout, whose length is 7—8,7 % of the total length, is relatively somewhat higher in the young 

 specimens than in the old, where it is depressed. The tube-shaped nostrils are well-developed; the 

 teeth-characters as usual. 



I) The colouration of these specimens has a delusive resemblance to that in L. liiikenii , which must be the reason 

 why I^iitken in the earlier report on the Fishes of the Ingolf Expedition referred them to that species. 



