COTTOinS. 



Ifll 



Ohs. Ll'tken's (ii)iiiion that Cottits pistilliger, as described by 

 Pallas (Zooyr. Boss. Asiat., vol. Ill, p. 143), is identical with 

 Gymnocant/iHS vmtrah's, has indeed won general approval, as ap- 

 pears from the above list of synonyms; but the collections made 

 by the Vega Expedition in the north-east of Siberia seem to us to 

 throw a new light on the ((uestion. Especially worthy of notice are 

 a pair, o^ and $, of the typical pistilliger, obtained off Najtschkaj. 

 The male (fig. 47) is 163 nnn. in length, has a long and pointed 

 urogenital papilla, and is furnished with well-developed spines on tiie 

 inside of both the pectoral and tlie ventral tins. 0?i the part of the 



spinous warts on tlic licad, while on the top of the head and the 

 occiput there are distinct, lliough small, spines, which correspond to 

 the parieto-occipital spines bo common in other Cottoids, in their 

 characteristic, quadrangular arrangement. There are also several other 

 differences from the characters we have given above in the diagnosis 

 of Gtjmnocanthus ventralis. Considering that we have been able to 

 compare a fully developed male of Gijinn. pistilliger, which was ready 

 to spawn, with a male of Gijinn. ventralis 190 mm. in length, from 

 Disco (Greenland), these differences seem far too great to fall under 

 the head of variations within one and the same species. The length 







Fig. 47. Gijmnocantlnis pistilliger, 0^, with three dermal appendages (whicli may be seen between the urogenital papilla and the ventral fin), 

 tal<en from the part of the side wliich is hidden by the pectoral fin. Natural size. From Najtsclikaj Lagoon, 19th March, 1879. 



Fig. 48. Gymnocanthus pistilliger, 9- From Najtschkaj Lagoon, 14th May, 1879. Natural size. 



abdominal sides which is covered by the pectoral fins, we find the 

 usual white spots and also the clapper-like or spatulatc, soft, dermal 

 appendages", with black stalk and white head, whicli arc especially 

 remarked by Pallas. The female (fig. 48), which is of almost the 

 same size, is naturally without these characters. The most marked 

 character of the species, however, is the almost entire absence of the 



of the head in the former specimen is 28'2 % of the length of the 

 body, while in the male specimen of Gyinn. ventralis from Disco it 

 is 2G'3 °i, and in a specimen of Gymn. ventralis 43 mm. in length 

 27'9 %. In the female specimen of Gymn. pistilliger it is 30 %. 

 The length of the maxillary bones in the male specimen of Gymn. 

 pistilliger is only 30'4 % of the length of the head, in the female 



" "Pedunculi pistilliformes, miuuti, albi, molles, c lilo brevissimo et capitulo piano fungiformi compositi" (Pallas), not as LiStkex 

 supposes, "half-cruciform, spinous scales". 



Scantlinavian Fishes. -' 



