104 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



l)eloAv the lateral line to the beginning of the tirst 

 dorsal fin, and a third, smallei- sinus, extending to a 

 perpendicular from the middle of the pectoral tins, may 

 be distinguished below this. The hind margin of the 

 preoperculum is fairly straight, but the lower margin 

 is arcuate. The hind margin of the gill-opening runs 

 parallel to the margin of tlie preoperculum. The nos- 

 trils resemble those of the other Scombroids; the pos- 

 terior being a perpendicular slit just in front of the 

 ej'e, the anterior a round opening on a level with the 

 uppei- margin of the eye and aliout half-Avii}- lietween 

 the tip of the snout and the hind margin of tlie eye. 

 The jaAv teeth are subulate and large, but scattered. 

 In the lo^ver jaw, however, their height is greater than 

 the distance bet-ween them, and about ^'„ the diameter 

 of the pupil. According to Collett, the palatine and 

 vomerine teeth are small; and on the tongue there are 

 two patches of villiform teeth. 



The internal organs of this species are little known, 

 l)ut in Orcynopsis niida, wliicli at least reseml)]es it 



closely, Klunzinger (1. c.) found the pyloric appendages 

 united into a gland, as (Jivier has stated is the case 

 in the Tunny. 



The Plain Pelamis is one of the rarest of fishes; 

 and only a few specimens from the Mediterranean and 

 three from the Cattegat and Christiania Fjord are known. 

 Two of tlie latter were taken oft" Na^soen, between 6 

 and 7 miles from Christiania, at the end of August, 

 1876, and another was caught in the same year oft' 

 Kongback in Stromstad Fjord and preserved by Dr. 

 C. CederstrOii, by whom it was stuffed and sent to 

 the Royal Museum. 



Of its hal)its we only know that it follows the 

 herring-shoals — Collett found the belly full of her- 

 ring-fry — and as, in contrast to the other Scombroids, 

 it is so seldom observed, it is highlv probal)le that it 

 generally keeps to deep or fairly deep water. Filitpi 

 and Verany state tliat its flesh is good and wholesome. 

 According to Moreau, specimens from 7 to 7^/., dm. 

 in leno'th weinh o korm. 



Subgenus SARDA. 



Body behind fJie forslet covered with small scales. Height of the anal fin gcnercdUj under 8 (fr. 5 to 7) % of 

 the length of the hodg". Length of the ventral fns about equal to or greater than the height of the anal fn and 

 at least '''/^ (fr. 67 % to 74 '^o) of the length of the pectoral. Length of the head, as well as the distance between 

 the tip of the snout and the frst dorsal fn, at least ^/\ (fr. 35 ?f> to 27 %) of the length of the body. Length of 

 the pectoral fins less than half (fr. 41 % to 43 %) the length of the head, of n-hich the length of the ventral fns 

 is more than Vi (/'"• ^S % to 31 %). Palatine bones with teeth., hut the vomer toothless. 



It Avas Cuvier who first'' introduced this subgenus, 

 the name of which he afterwards'' changed to Felanigs, 

 while Guj/' has adopted the older name, which among 



tlie Greeks, however, according to Cuviek, originally 

 meant tlie salted flesh of the Tunnv. 



" According to LDtken, in the largest of the specimens of Sarda chiliensis examined by him the heiglit of the anal fin was 9"8 °i of 

 the leugtli of the body, and the length of the pectoral fins 55'5 K of the length of the head. This exception, as well as Steixdachner's 

 statement as to the length of tlie ventral fins in tlie same species, indicates a condition of development which renders our generic and sub- 

 generic definitions of the Scombroids merely expressions of more or less fixed stages in a common development. Strictly- speaking, too, only 

 the characters which we have adopted above (pp. 91 and 92) in the scheme for the division of the family, are constant; but the others show 

 partly the different directions of development and partly the stages at which the forms, as far as we know them, have generally stopped. 



*- Regn. Anim., ed. 2, vol. II, p. 199. 



■^ Cuv., Val., 1. c, pp. 138 and 149. 



^ Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad., 18G2, p. 125. 



