6. MEELUCCITJS. 345 



Bmnn. Pise. Mass. p. 20 ; Donov. Brit. Fishes, ii. pi. 28 ; Turt. Brit. 



Faun. p. 91 ; 3Iitch. Trans. Lit. Sf Phil. Soc. Neiv York, i. p. 371. 

 Hake, Penn. Brit. Zool. iii. p. 168, and edit. 1812, iii. p. 257. 

 Grand Merlus, Duhani. Peches, ii. sect. 1. cap. 7. p, 141. tab. 24. 

 Gadus merlus, Risso, Ichth. Nice, p. 122. 

 Merluccius vulgaris, Flem. Brit. An. p. 195; Jen. Man. p. 447; Yarr. 



Brit. Fishes, 2nd edit. ii. p. 258, and 3rd edit. i. p. 562 ; Parn. Wem. 



Mem. vii. p. 350, or Fishes Frith of Forth, p. 190 ; Storer, Fishes 



Massach. p. 132 ; Nilss. Skand. Fatm. iv. p. 570 ; Lowe, Tram. Zool. 



Soc. ii. p. 189, and Proc. Zool. Soc. 1843, p. 90 ; Thomps. Nat. Hist. 



Irel. iv. p. 184. 

 Stoniodon bilinearis, 3Iitch. Rep. Fish. New York, p. 7. 

 Merluccius esculentus, Risso, Eur. Merid. iii. p. 220. 



argentatus. Fries Sf Ekstr. Skand. Fisk. p. 145. tab. 33. 



Kummel, Holb. Gotheb. Nya Handl. v. p. 38. c. fig. ; Schagerstr. Phys. 



SiiUsk. Tidskr. 1838, p. 302. 

 Merluccius sinuatus, ( Swains.) Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1840, p. 38, and 



Trans. Zool. Soc. iii. p. 15. 

 Merlucius lanatus, Grrotiov. Syst. ed. Gray, p. 130. 

 albidus, ( Mitch.) Dekay, Fauna Neiv York, Fishes, p. 280. pi. 46. 



fig. 148 (bad). 

 Air-bladder : Delaroche, Ann. Mus. xiv. 1809, p. 279. 



D. 10 1 36-37. A. 36-37. V. 7. Vert. 25/26. 



Teeth in both jaws strong and long. The posterior parts of the 

 dorsal and anal fins are elevated, higher than the anterior. Inside 

 of mouth black. 



Coasts of Europe and North America. 



a. Fine specimen. Lisbon. Presented by the Rev. E.. T. Lowe. 

 6. Fine specimen. London market. 



c. Half-grown : stuffed. Frith of Forth. 



d, e. Adult : stuffed. English coast. 



/. Half-grown : skin. From Mr. Yarrell's Collection as Gadiis mer- 



langus. 

 g. Young : very bad state (Epicopus gayi). 

 h-i. Large skeletons. British. 



The skull does not differ in its structure from that of Gadus, ex- 

 cept in those points which are dependent on the general external 

 form, whilst the vertebral column is so peculiarly modified that it 

 may be easUy distinguished from all the other Gadoids. Its abdo- 

 minal portion terminates Math the twenty-fifth vertebra, and is 

 shorter than the caudal portion. The neural spines of all the abdo- 

 minal vertebrae are extremely strong, dilated, one wedged into the 

 other : the first, however, is quite free, erect, whUst the others are 

 inchned backwards. The parapophyses of the third to sixth vertebrae 

 arc slender, styhform, like the processes of the vertebrae of a frog. 

 The transverse processes of all the foUo^nng abdominal vertebrae are 

 long, very broad, nearly touching each other, convex on the upper 

 side Jind concave on the lower ; the two or three anterior pairs are, 

 as it were, inflated. The whole forms a strong roof for the abdominal 

 cavity, and particularly for the air-bladder, and reminds us of a similar 

 structui'e in Kurt us. 



