SAri'llllilNK GlKNAlil). 



201 



Brit. Mils., Fish., vol. II, p. '202; Coucii, /"/.«/(. Jirit. Id., 

 vol. II, p. 21, tnb. LXV; Steixd., Stzber. Aknd. Wisg. Winn, 

 LVI, I (18C7),ii. OSS; Coi,L., Vid. Selsk. Foih. Christ., 1874, 

 TilUegsli., p. 37; Ltkn, Vid. Meddcl. Nntiirli. l''or. Kblivn, 

 1876, p. 388; Mai.m, GbffS, Boh. Fn., p. 398; Winther, 

 Zool. Dan., Fisl-e, p. 13, tab. II, lig. 9; In., Natiirh. Tidskr., 

 Kbhvu, ser. 3, vol. XII, p. 10; CoLl.., Vid. Sclsk. Forli., 

 Christ., 1879, No. 1, p. Ifj; Tiu.iKU, Mem. Soc. Nat. Sc. 

 Natur., M.ilh., Cherbourg, toiii. XXII (1879), p. 272; Day, 

 Fish. at. Brit., Ire}., part. I, p. .59, tab. XXIV; LiLLJ., Sv., 

 Norg. Fiskar, vol. 1, p. 182; MOi!., Hcke, Fiscli., Osts., p. .00. 



Trigla losvi-si, Montacu. Mcim. Werii. Nat. Hist. Soc, vol. II, 

 p. 455. 



Trigla poeciloptera, Cuv., Val., 1. <■., p. 47; viih' Steixd. ct 

 Ltkn, 1. c 



Trigla cora.v, Bonai'., Fii. Ital., Pesci, fasc. X, p. 52, tab. 

 94, fig. 1; MoR., 11, .H. Nat. Poiss., Fr., toin. II, p. 284. 



Trigla nigripes, Malm, Fcirh. Skand. Naturf. M., Stockh. 1803, 

 p. 410; Gbg.'i, Boh. Fn., p. 403; Gbgs Nat. Hisl. Mus. 

 Arsber. Ill (1881), p. 22. 



Obs. As there can be no doubt as to the identity of Wil.- 

 i.ucHBv's Lucerua Venetormn, and as Linkveus has misapplied the name 

 Hirundo — in his works the same species as Gurnardns — it is 

 evident that, according to the current rules of nomenelature, this spe- 

 cies should be called Trigla Incerna. Even in Blocii we find several 

 remarks whicli clearly show that he has confounded this species with 

 the preceding one: and should we refuse to recognise the specific 



^ 



'^ 



Fig. 58. Trigla nigripci', taken i>ii the 20lli of August, 1872. oif 

 Marstrand. A. \V. Mai.m. Magn. 3 diani. 



name hicerna, on the grounds that it lias also been misapplied, Mox- 

 TAGU is the first post-Linn:i>an writer who has given the species an 

 Accurate name and definition. 



Malm's Trigla nigripes has been referred b}' Collett and Lillje- 

 DOKG to the preceding species, as a young specimen thereof. This 

 opinion is borne out by the strange circumstance pointed out by Malm 

 himself, that he had never found the fry of Trigla gurnardns on the 

 coast of Bohuslan, but, if his own later opinion be correct, had met 

 with young specimens of the much rarer Trigla lucerna. F.smark, 

 however, according to Collett, at a more recent date obtained in 

 Christiania Fjord young specimens of the latter species, so small that 

 we must assume that it also propagates in Scandinavian waters. Hence 

 we must pay more attention to Malm's reference to the number of 

 rays in the anal fin of 7';-. nigripes, which is too small to apply to a 

 Tr. gurnardns. By Mr. Stuxbeho's kind permission I have been enabled 

 to examine two of Malm's type-specimens, one of which is figured 

 here (fig. 58), and to verify his statements as to the number of rays 

 in the dorsal fins (9(8) IG) and the anal fin (15), and of spinous plates 

 at the margins of the dorsal fincgroove (23 - though in the anterior 

 part two more are to be found, though only rudimentary), and also his 

 observations as to the Cottoid characters which give this larval stage 

 its especial interest. The question of species must reniaiii undecided, 

 however, until it has been shown that the number of rays cannot 

 undergo during growth the requisite increase to admit of the inclusion 



ScanJinnrinn Fithtt. 



of these young specimens in the preceding species, or that the spines 

 which here mark the lateral line, as well as the two nasal spines, 

 which also remind us of thf Cotti, are evanescent, juvenile characters. 

 These young specimens are further distinguished by large muciferous 

 pores beneath the eye, arranged in a row from the snout along tin- 

 cheek and superiorly bounded by a raised bony ridge, which is con- 

 tinued posteriorly in a curve to the upper preopercular spine. We 

 find a corresponding structure to these nmciferous pores in the Cotti, 

 c. g. in (Jnttns quadricornis; but they appear with a still more strik- 

 ing likeness in the genus Agomis of the following family. 



'I'lic SapitliiriiiL' (jiiniard i.s priiieipalJy di.stiiiguislifd 

 IVdiii the ])ivcc(lin;i- si^fcies 1j}' its wwikcr scales, dcciKT 

 tail, longer snout and longer pectoral tins: the :iual tin, 

 as well as tiic second dorsal, on tlie other hand, is 

 shorter and contains fewer rays. The base of the first 

 dorsal fin is more tlian half the length of the liase of 

 these two tins; Imt its height is altout tlie .same as 

 in the ])receding species. The scales of the latei-al 

 line are scarcely apparent, but the lateral ducts into 

 wliicli the canal branches, in young specimens at lea.st, 

 are all the more distinctly visiVde. These ducts are 

 generally four in nnndjer, at least in the anterior 

 part of th(; line, two running upwards and two down- 

 wards tVoni the main duct in each .scale. The least 

 depth of the tail is at least 1.5 ?/> of the length of 

 the head, which is .about e(|ual to the length of the 

 base of the anal tin, or even exceeds it. The length 

 of the snout, wliicli in old specimens is more than half 

 tliat of the head, even iu young specimens measures more 

 than 4.T % of the length of the base of the anal tin. 

 The length of the pectoral fins is always greater than 

 that of the ventral, and tiieir middle rays are triply 

 bifid, a character remarked even l>y Willughbv. An- 

 other distinction between this species and the pre- 

 ceding one lies in the granular .striation of the largi- 

 suborbital bone (the cheek). These raised stria-, which 

 here, as on the other external bones of the head, radiate 

 from a centre, have this centre set so low down that, 

 as ;i rule, no .striie (probably in young specimens only) 

 run downwards therefrom; l)ut one or two stria\ which 

 are thicker than the rest, run up from this point towards 

 the lower, anterior corner of the orbit, and another, 

 risin"- into a sharp edge, runs straight backwards and is 

 continued on the surface of the preoperculum out to tlie 

 sui)erior marginal spine at the corner of this bone. 



T!ie coloration of the Sapphirine Gurnard is far 

 more remarkalile than that of the preceding species. 

 The back, according to Kuoyer, is usually red (seldom 

 fn-avish) with a tlash of brown or green, and the sides 

 a ligliter orange with a more or less distinct, golden 



2<5 



