192 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



The coloration of Lilljeborg's Cottus is essentially 

 the same as that of young Cofti in general and espe- 

 cially like that of young Father-Lashers. It is pale 

 Aellow, with four or five broad, black, transverse bands 

 over the head and back, the last two or three extending 

 over the caudal region down to the ventral side and 

 more or less confluent. The fins are crossed by rows 

 of grayish I)rown spots. 



Lilljeborg's Cottus is known from the shallower 

 spots on the coast of Norway up to Trondhjem Fjord, 

 from l>ohusl;ln and from the Faroe Islands. According 

 to Malm's observations in Bohuslan, it "generally lives 

 at about the same depth as Cottus scorp'ms; but as the 

 latter is most often found in tlie Zostera region and C. 

 t)iibalis in the Laminaria region, it would appear that 

 C. Lilljeborfjii prefers the Corallina region." Of the spe- 

 cimens belonging to the Royal Museum two -were taken 

 l)v Lecturer Olsson on the coast of "Bohuslan, 1869," to- 

 gether with Cottus buhalis, and another by Professor S. Lo- 

 VEN in Gullmaren. Malm mentions eight specimens fi'om 

 Bohuslan, belonging to Gothenburg Museum; but whether 

 the species is common there, we can hardly judge as yet. 



Cottus LiUjeborgii is of no economic importance, 

 but is all the more interesting from a scientific point of 

 view, for most of the characters assigned to it above, 



correspond to the highest stages of development in the 

 preceding species, but are combined with a retention of 

 the spinous, larval dress of the latter. So closely related 

 to each other are these two species, that one might rea- 

 sonablv regard Lilljeborg's Cottus as a Father-Lasher 

 wliich had adoyjted in youth the characters of the adult 

 state. This opinion, however, is i-efuted bv the differ- 

 ence which lies in the above-mentioned shortening of 

 the occipital ridges and in the smaller number of rays 

 in the ventral fins, the former circumstance indicating 

 a special approach toAvards Cottus claciger. As long as 

 a constant difference exists, we must, of course, retain 

 the species in the system as distinct. In other respects 

 we see, according to the table given below, that, where 

 ill Cottus LUljehorfi'ti the proportion is highest — e. g. 

 in the length of the maxillary ])ones relatively to the 

 length of the l)ody — Cottus hulmJis approaches it by 

 the increase of the proportion with age. Again, where 

 in the former species tlie ]n"oportion is comparatively 



low 



in the relative lengths of the l)ase of the 



second dorsal fin and of the Ijody — we find in Cottus 

 bubalis, both in the male and in the female, that the 

 proportion sinks with age, more or less regularlj-, but 

 still distinctly. The table also shows the relations between 

 these two species and their near relative Cottus chivi(/er. 



