120. GADID^ MERLUCIUS. 809 



erwise peculiar in several respects. Species several, very similar. 

 Large, voracious fishes, little valued as food. {Merlucius, the ancient 

 name, meaniug "Sea-Pike.") 



1247. M. biligiearis (Mitch.) Gill.— Hake. 



Grayish, darker above, dull silvery below; axil and edge of pectoral 

 somewhat blackish; inside of opercle dusky silvery; inside of mouth 

 dusky bluish; i)eritoneum nearly black. Top of head with the W- 

 shaped ridges very conspicuous; eye shorter than snout, and less 

 than interorbital width; maxillary reaching posterior border of pupil; 

 teeth not very large, smaller than in M. smiridus. Scales larger than 

 in other species; pectorals and ventrals long, the latter reaching three- 

 fourths distance to vent, their length about three-fifths that of head. 

 Head S^; depth G^. D. 13-41; A. 40; Lat. 1. 100-110. Coasts of New 

 England and northward; rather common. 



(Stomodon iilinearis Mitchill, Kept. Fish. N. Y. 7, 1814 : Gadus alUdiis Mitchill, Journ. 

 Acad. Nat. Sei. Phila. i^409: Merlucius albidtis Storer, Hist. Fish. Mass. 303; Goode &, 

 Beau, Bull. Essex Inst, xi, 9.) 



134S. Mo saaiio'ldus Raf. — European Halce. 



Dusky above, silvery below; dorsal, caudal, and distal i)art of pec- 

 toral blackish; inside of opercle black; inside of mouth black poste- 

 riorly, pale in front; j)eritoneum black. Ventrals a little more than 

 half head; teeth very long. Head large, 3^; depth G^. D. 10-36; A. 

 36; vert. 25 + 26; Lat. 1. 150. Coasts of Europe; abundant; straying 

 to Greenland. Here described from specimens taken at Genoa. The 

 identity of the northern species with M. smiridus is perhaps uncertain. 



(Gadiis merlticciits L. Syst. Nat. ; Rafinesque, Caratteri di Alcnni Nnovi Geiieri, 1810, 

 28: Merlucius vuhjaris Fleming, Brit. Auim. 193: Merlucius vulgaris Giiuther, iv, 344: 

 Epicopus gayi Giiuther, ii, 248.) 



1249. M. productUS (Ayres) Gill. — Merluccio. 



Silver gray; head dusted with coarse black dots; inside of month and 



opercle jet black; peritoneum silvery, with black specks. Head with 



the W-shaped ridges less strongly marked; maxillary reaching center 



of pu[)il; eye large; pectorals long and narrow, reaching vent; ventrals 



much smaller than in M. bilinear is, reaching half way to vent; their 



length about f that of head ; caudal somewhat forked. Scales quite 



small, deciduous. Teeth moderate. Head 3f; depth 7. D. 11-41; A. 



43 ; V. 7. Lat. 1. 136. L. 3 feet. Pacific coast, from Santa Barbara 



northward; abundant. 



{Merlaiigus productus Ayres, Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sci. 1855, 64: Homalopomus troxv- 

 hridgii Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 185G, 132: Gadus pj-oductus GilntlmT, iv, 338j 

 GUI, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1863, 247.) 



