6. MERLUCCIXJS. 345 



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



Faun. p. 91 ; Mitch. Trans. Lit. ^ Phil. Soc. Neto York, i. p. 371. 

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

 Grand Merlus, Duham. Peches, ir. sect. 1. cap. 7. p. 141. tab. 24. 

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

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



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



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



Massach. p. 132 ; Nilss. Skand. Faun. iv. p. 570 ; Lowe, Trans. Zool. 



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



Irel. iv. p. 184. 

 Stomodon oilinearis, Mitch. Rep. Fish. New York, p. 7. 

 Merluccius esculentus, Bisso, Fur. 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. 



SdUsk. Tidskr. 1838, p. 302. 

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



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

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

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



fig. 148 (bad). 

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



D. 10 I 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 Eev. R. T. Lowe. 

 h. Fine specimen. London market. 



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



d, e. Advilt : stuffed. English coast. 



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



langus. 

 g. Young : very bad state {EpicopibS gayi). 

 h-i. Large skeletons. British. 



The shall 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 easily distinguished from all the other Gadoids. Its abdo- 

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

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

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

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

 inclined backwards. The parapophyses of the third to sixth vertebrae 

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

 The transverse processes of all the following abdominal vertebrae are 

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

 side and 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 

 structure in Kiirtus. 



