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86 



ikke vel vedlikeholdte, saaledes at flere Oharacterer under 

 den flyktige Gjennemgaaelse ikke lode sig med Sikkerhed 

 erkjende. 



Dr. Ltitken kar imidlertid senere under Revisionen 

 ai de Individer af denne Slægt, der opbevares i Kjøben- 

 havner-Musæet, kleven opmærksom paa visse, af Beinhardt 

 overseede eller lidet paaagtede Ejendommeligheder kos L. 

 vahlii, Og det er i Overensstemmelse med disse sidst vundne 

 Resultater, som kan har nedlagt i sit sidste. ovenfor nævnte 

 Artikel om denne Slægts grønlandske og islandske Arter 1 . 

 at jeg har troet det rettest at holde Nordhavs-Expeditio- . 

 nens Individer ud fra den typiske L. vahlii, væsentlig paa 

 Grund af Forskjel i Sideliniens Bygning, i Hovedets og 

 Kjævernes relative Længde, i Tandbygningen, foruden i 

 Farven. 



Medens L. vahlii typisk besidder 1 Sidelinie. der er 

 ventral, har Nordhavs-Expeditionens Individer 2. nemlig 

 tillage en medio-lateral; dog maa hertil bemærkes. at et 

 af Typ-Exemplarerne af L. vahlii tillige viser Spor af en 

 medio lateral Sidelinie. 



Medens Hovedets Længde hos L. vahlii indeholdes hos 

 yngre Him-Individer 5,4 Gange i Totallængden, og saaledes 

 er forholdsvis lidet. hos gamle Hanner derimod 4.:;. er For- 

 holdet hos Nordhavs-Expeditionens Individer hos intet Kjøn 

 over 4,6, selv hos smaa Unger. Fremdeles er Tandrækken 

 paa Palatinbenene hos L. vahlii i Regelen længere, end 

 Rækken i Mellemkjæven (ialfald ikke. eller kun lidet kor- 

 tere, end denne), medens den kos Nordhavs-Expeditionens 

 Individer altid er kortere, tildels naaende blot den sidstes 

 halve Længde. Endelig er Farven hos begge ulige, hvor- 

 ved dog maa erindres, at Typ-Exemplarerne af L. vahlii 

 ikke ere fuldt ud skikkede til at oplyse dette Forhold, dels 

 fordi de ere gamle i fra 40-aarene). dels fordi de i Regelen 

 have været udtagne af Ventriklerne paa Hajer; enkelte 

 ere dog forholdsvis vel vedligeholdte. Medens nemlig L. 

 vahlii er forsynet med større mørke Tverfelter ned ad Le- 

 gemet og de verticale kinner, mellem hvilke Felter tindes 

 omtrent lige saa brede Partier af en lysere Bundfarve (der 

 hos gande Individer synes ganske at forsvinde. saaledes, at 

 Legemet her bliver næsten ensfarvet brunsort), have Expe- 

 ditionens Individer paa brunsort Bundfarve et Antal skarpt 

 begrændsede hvidgule Tverbaand. der ere forholdsvis smale, 

 og paa Dorsalen ere næsten hvide, ligesom der hos alle 

 de undersøgte Individer tindes en hvid Plet ovenfor hver 

 < rjællespalte. 



Med Hensyn til Benævnelsen L. esmarhii, og de nye 

 Individers Identification med denne Art, efterat jeg tidli- 

 gere himle opført dem under Navnet L. vahlii, kan føl- 

 gende bringes i Erindring. 



Da jeg i 1874 udarbejdede min Afhandling om ..Nor- 

 ges Fiske-' (Tillægsh. til Forb. Vid. Selsk. Chra.), forelaa 

 til Bestemmelse i Universitets-Musæet 3 store Individer af 



Vid. Medd. Nat. K. 



Kl.hvii. 1880, ]•. 307. 



preservation, too. is anything but good, so that several of 

 the characters could not be accurately determined from a 

 cursory examination. 



But Dr. Liitken. when re-examining the specimens 

 of this genus preserved in the Copenhagen Museum, had 

 his attention drawn to divers characteristics distinguishing 

 L. vahlii, which Reinhardt must have either overlooked or 

 thought undeserving of notice ; and in conformity with these 

 results, which he has embodied in his latest Memoir, on 

 the Greenland and Iceland species of this genus, 1 I have 

 seen tit to regard the individuals taken on the North At- 

 lantic Expedition as distinct from the typical L. vahlii. 

 chiefly by reason of differences in the character of the 

 lateral line, in the relative length of the head and jaws, 

 in the structure of the teeth, and in the colour. 



L. vahlii is typically distinguished by one lateral 

 line, which is ventral, whereas the specimens from the Ex- 

 pedition have two, a ventral and a medio-lateral; it must 

 however be admitted, that one of the typical specimens of 

 L. vahlii exhibits traces of a medio-lateral line. 



The length of the head in L. vahlii is in young female 

 individuals 5.4 of the total length, and therefore compara- 

 tively short, in old males 4.3; whereas in the sjjecimens 

 from the North Atlantic Expedition, the proportion does 

 not exceed in either sex 4.6. even in very young individ- 

 uals; moreover, the row of teeth on the palatine bones in 

 L. vahlii is as a rule longer than that on the inter-maxil- 

 lary, and. when shorter, but very little, whereas it is invariably 

 shorter in the specimens obtained on the North Atlantic 

 Expedition, sometimes reaching not more than half the 

 length of the latter. Finally, they differ in colour; it must, 

 however, be borne in mind, that the typical specimens of 

 L. vahlii are not in a condition fully calculated to elucid- 

 ate this question, partly from their age (upwards of 40 

 years in the Museum), and partly from their having in the 

 majority of cases been taken from the ventricles of sharks ; 

 one or two are. however, comparatively well preserved. L. 

 vahlii is distinguished by large, dark transverse quarterings 

 down tke body and the vertical fins, with rather broad 

 patches between, of a lightish ground-colour, which in old 

 individuals would appear to become obsolete, the body here 

 being almost uniformly brownish-black; the specimens of 

 the Expedition have the brownish -black ground-colour 

 marked with a number of sharply defined whitish -yellow 

 (on the dorsal almost white) transverse bands; a white 

 spot occurs too. above each of the gill-openings. 



As regard the name L. esmarkii, and the identifica- 

 tion of the new individuals with that species (I had pre- 

 viously referred them to L. vahlii). the following remarks 

 should be borne in mind. 



In 1874. when I was occupied in writing my treatise 

 on -Norges Fiske" (Tilkegsh. til Forh. Aid. Selsk. Chra.), 

 the University Museum had 3 large specimens of a Lycodes. 



1 Vid. Medd. Nat. Foren. Kbhvn. 1880, p. 307. 



