NOTES AND MEMOKANDA. 275 



would therefore appear that in spite of occasional exceptions, such as 

 those recorded by Holt, there is a general tendency in the British 

 samples of Gadv.s esmarkii to the assumption of a stouter and less 

 slender shape of body than in the Scandinavian type. So far as the 

 Plymouth specimen is concerned this relation is also confirmed by the 

 relatively greater depth of the caudal peduncle. The body length is 

 only 21 times the depth of the peduncle, whereas in Scandinavian 

 specimens, according to Smitt, the body is so attenuated that the length 

 varies between 22-2 and 25 times the minimum depth of the body. 

 Giinther's figure of a Scottish specimen, on the other hand, yields a 

 ratio of 24-5 times the caudal peduncle {Froc. Boy. Soc. Edin. xv. 1889, 

 Plate III.). 



The fin-ray formuke present no distinctive features, since they happen 

 to coincide closely in the two fishes examined with the minimum and 

 maximum limits of variation assigned to Scandinavian specimens by 

 Smitt. The maximum number of rays (38) attributed by Smitt to 

 the second anal fin is clearly a misprint for 28. 



It follows from the above that the only difference between the 

 British and Norwegian samples of Gadus esmarkii that is revealed 

 by the available data is a greater range of variation in the relative 

 size of the eye and depth of the body in British than in Scandinavian 

 specimens, a difference that may possibly be reduced upon examination 

 of these points in a larger number of Scandinavian specimens. 



Walter Garstang. 



An albino Hake {Merlmdus mcrluccim). During the first week of 

 October, 1900, Mr. J. C. Ward, Director of the Milford Docks 

 Company, sent me, at the request of the captain of one of the 

 steam trawlers, a specimen of a fish which came up in the trawl 

 amongst a catch of hake, and was presumed to belong to some different 

 and unfamiliar species. It was hakelike in form and structure, but 

 much leaner in appearance, and entirely destitute of the usual skin 

 pigmentation, both on the external surface of the body and on the 

 inner linings of the buccal cavity and gill covers. 



As a white-mouthed hake {Merhiccius argentatus) has been recorded 

 from the Icelandic coast by Faber {fide Giinther, Catalogue of Fishes, 

 iv. p. 346), I examined this specimen in some detail, half expecting 

 it to throw light on the somewhat dubious Icelandic form. In all 

 structural respects, however, the specimen agreed with the common 

 hake, the teeth being normal, the scales forming about 135 rows, and 

 the fin-ray formula being D, 10 + 39 ; A. 38. The pigmentation of 

 the retina and peritoneum was also normal. The specimen was clearly, 

 therefore, a white-skinned abnormality of the common hake, and offered 



