|)I!A(;()\i;ts. 



279 



prey, and iiivarinhh- ictiirn In the same .s])ot again.' 

 The Dragonets li\(' on small \ivc\, wliirli iiia\- be easily 

 seizofl. In tlic stdniarh we generallv find several kinds 

 of small ci'iistaccans and univalves, and the thin in- 

 testinal canal is crammed with the crnslic<l shells of 

 these animals. 



As the I )l'a lionets lielon;;' to the s|iecie>; <les|)ise(l 

 l)\' the fi-;hermen, there is im narticidar method of fish- 



ing for tliem; and the few specimens that are acci- 

 dentally taken, are thrown away. For all this, their 

 flesh is very fine, wliite and agreeable, and would, with- 

 out doulit, furnish an apiK-tising dish, if sent to table. 

 ( )ccasionalh% though seldom, a specimen or two may 

 be taken on tin- hook tluiing summer, but most of the 

 catches are made in nets or large Herring-seines. 



(FkIES, S.MITT.) 



THE LESSER DRAGONET. 

 CALLIONYMUS MACULATUS. 



Plate XV, fi^^ 1. 



Leitf/fli of tlic head fnnii the front point of the intcrmaxillaiii ttoncs, tvhctt rctrKcii'd, to tlic liiitd lirunchiul maifjln", 

 which (K hidden hij the skin, less than 24 % of the lem/th of the hodi/, and to the anterior margin of the gill- 

 opening less than 18 % thereof or than ^ , of the base of the anal fin. Base of the anal fin more than 26 % 

 of the length of the liodi/, and also more than cither the length of the head as first given, or the distance hetiveen 

 the first dorsal fin and thr tip of the snout, and lastli/ at least ahout 70 % of the distance between the anal fin 

 and the tip (f the snout. Least depth if the tail at most ahout 12 % of the length of the base of the anal fin, 

 and the breadth across the insertions of the ventral fins at most cdwut 47 % of the latter. Course of the lateral 

 line considerablji ahore tlic middle of the sides. Posterior dorsal fin marked with ocellated round spots, set in 



several transverse rows. 



If. hr. li: D. 4 9(8): A. 1) : /'. 18 



19: 



V. .r + 7 + .;■. 



Hyii. Dracunculns, Willughby. lliM. Pise, lib. IV, cap. XXV; Ray, 

 Sijn. Metli. Pise, p. 79; iiec Rondelet. 



Uallionymus dracuncidus, BrOnn., Ichthyol. Massil., p. 17; 

 SCHAGERSTR., Vet.-Akad. Handl. 1833, p. 133, tab. I, figs 

 1 — 3 (nee synon., nee fig. 4). 



Callionymiis mnculatus, Raf., (Jaratt., p. 25, sp. 00, tab. V, 

 fig. 1; Dr., Icon. Fit. ItciL, torn. Ill (Pesci), Xo. 104, lav., 

 figs 2 ef 3, fase. Ill; Fit., Vet.-Akad. Handl. 1837, p. 48; 

 II). et V. Wright, Sk-and. Fisk., ed. I, p. 102, tab. 24; Kr., 

 Danm. Fiske, vol. 1, p. 442; Nilss., Skand. Fn., Fisk., p. 

 216; Gthr, Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. Ill, p. 144: Ca- 

 XESTR., Arch. Zool., Anat., Fisiol., vol. II, p. 110, tab. 1, 

 fig. 2 ; Gthr, Ann., Mag., Nat. Hist., ser. 3, vol. 20, p. 290, 

 tab. V, fig. A; Steind., Stzber. Akad. Wiss. Wien. LVII 

 (1868), I, p. 416; Coll., Forh. Vid. Selsk. Christ., 1874, 

 TilliBgsh., p. 62; Malm, Gbgs, Boh. Fn., p. 444; Mor., 

 Hist. Nat. Poiss., Ft-., torn. II, p. 169; Day, Fi.-'Ii. G:t 

 Brit.. Trel., vol. I, p. 177, tab. LIII, fig. 5; Lill.i., Sv., 

 Xorff. Fn., Fisk.. vol. 1. p. 666. 



Callionymus lyra, Risso, Iclitli. Nice, p. 113; Eiir. Mev., vol. 

 Ill, p. 262. Call. uitltara + Call. reticulatus, Cvv., Val., 

 Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. XII, pp. 280 et 284. 



Obs. Though the oldest post-Linna-an name of the species is 

 dractinculus, and thongh BrOnnich's description is conclusive proof 

 of his having correctly understood tlie difference between this species 

 and the preceding one, still tlie reiterated misuse of the name drac- 

 unculns in previous writers seems to render it advisable to let this 



name drop. Schagerstrom does not quote BrU.N'Nich as bis authority, 

 but grounds his opinion on tbose of his predecessors who have wrongly 

 described the female of Call, lyra as a distinct species, under the 

 name of Call, dracunculns; and in Schagerstrom dracunctdus, which 

 in LiNN^us etc. was a half-speeies, so to speak, becomes a double 

 species, for he describes and figures a young female of lyra as a 

 specimen of the former. The original of his fig. 4 is preserved in 

 the Royal Museum, and, as Lilljebokq has also remarked, is a female 

 of the preceding species. This is also shown by the measurements 

 which Schagerstrom has given in his description, of the length of 

 the head and the caudal fin, and of the distance between the anal 

 fin and the point of the chin, as well as by his description of the 

 colouring of the second dorsal fin, though the correctness of these 

 characters can no longer be tested bj- an examination of the specimen, 

 the body of which has once been dried until hard and bent. Fries 

 had no opportunity of examining this specimen, which did not come 

 into the possession of the Royal Museum until 18.51, when it was 

 bequeathed to the collections by Schagerstrom; but in the first edition 

 of "Scandinavian Fishes" he writes: "to judge by the description it 

 must have been an ordinary female specimen of C. lyra." 



"In a genus so natural as Calliongmus," writes 

 Fries in the Transactions of the Swedish Academy of 

 Science for 1837, "where the difference between the 

 sexes is also so considerable, and the relative size of 

 the jjarts of the body so subject to changes of growth, 

 the diagnosis of the species must always be fraught 

 with difficultv. To judge bv the relations between the 



" See p. 273. note a. 



