BRAMOIDS. 



75 



altugctliur. These covering scales (fin-covers), which 

 are marked a in figure 21, are at first quite low at 

 the beginning of the fin, then gnidualh' increase in 

 height up to the '20th scale, which with the next ten are 



in one longer 



the highest, then again diminish and 



scale, more elongated in form, at the 



end 

 last ray in each 

 fin. At first the interstices between tlie fin-covers are 

 very narrow, and each of the scales is folded at the 

 upper margin and overlaps the next one to it, but gra- 

 dually these folds disappear, the margin becomes simple 

 and thin and the groove proportionall}' wider. 



The dorsal fin begins in front of the insertion of 

 the pectoral and the beginning of the anal, almost ver- 

 tically above the posterior orbital margin or, as in the 

 younger specimen, somewhat behind it. According to 

 LiLLJEBORG it consists of from 51 to 53 rays", the first 

 9 being short and spinous and most of the others un- 

 articulated and simple, liut the posterior ones articulated 

 and branched, the last of all doubly. The longest rays 

 seem to have been situated just behind the spinous 

 ones avid to have been at least ^/j of the greatest depth 

 of the l>ody in length; probably, however, these, too, 

 ended in very fine points, united by an extremely thin, 

 scaleless membrane. The anal fin is of the same form 

 and structure as the dorsal, the number of pairs of 

 fin-covers being about 40. Its longest ra}% the 4th or 

 5th, measures about ^/^ of the greatest depth of the 



l)od\- in tlie younger specimen. The pectoral fins are 

 narrow, long and obliquely pointed: in both of the spe- 

 cimens examined they are broken off short, but their 

 length has been at least ^/j of the greatest depth of 

 the body. The ventral fins lie a little in front t)f the 

 insertion of the pectoral. According to Lilljeborg 

 they are covei-cd above and beUnv by a few elongated 

 scales. The caudal fin is deeply forked and thickly 

 covered Avitli thin sc^ales, which form i-o^vs on the 

 mend)i'ane like those which in the genus Brama occur 

 on all the vertical fins. 



Pterycombiis hrama is exceedingly rare and has 

 been found in an adult state only on the west coast 

 of Norway, from Finmark down to the most southern 

 part in the neighboui-hood of Egersund; and u[> to the 

 present only 12 such finds have been recorded*. One 

 specimen, caught in a salmon-net in \^aranger Fjord 

 in 4 feet of water, seems to prove that the species 

 sometimes wanders into the shallo^ver parts of the 

 ocean; but it is really an inhabitant of the depths of the 

 sea, from 100 fathoms to greater depths. The young 

 specimen described by Lutken (1. c.) was taken out of 

 the stomach of an Albicore (Orcynus germo), slightly 

 north of the Equator, between Africa and South Ame- 

 rica, in 8 ° N., 24 ° W., and thus shows that the spe- 

 cies has a wide geographical range. 



(Fries, Smitt.) 



Genus BRAMA. 



The dorsal fin begins behind the insertion of the pectoral, the anal at about the middle of the body (excluding the 

 caudal fin). The longest rays of these fins measure less than the greatest depth of the body. No fin-covers; but on 

 the membrane of all the vertical fins a row of similar scales along the back of each ray. Eyes fairly large, the 

 diameter, hoivever, in full-grown specimens only about ^|^ of the length of the head. Teeth both on the palatine 

 hones and the vomer., though the latter often disappear in old specimens and even in young ones are sometimes 



tvanting. 



This genus, too, is one of the rarities of the Scan- 

 dinavian Fauna, though far from being as rare as the 

 preceding one. It is also much better known, for, in 

 the Mediterranean and the Atlantic outside it, it is still 

 less rare, and, we may say, is observed as often as 

 deep-sea fishes in general can be. It has also been 

 met with not only in the Atlantic but also in the Paci- 



fic and Indian Oceans. The form of the body and the 

 other characters essentially correspond in many respects 

 to those of the preceding genus. The relation between 

 the two genera may be systematically expressed, in 

 Nilsson's words, "by the striking metamorphosis through 

 which the oblong, linear scales, which in Brama cover 

 the dorsal and anal fins, have sunk in Pterycomhus to 



" The number of pairs of fln-covers in both the specimens mentioned above is 50 and each of them seems to belong to a separate ray. 

 * CoLLETT, N. Mag. Naturv., Bd. 29 (1884), p. 69. 



