286 



SCANDINAVIAN t'ISHKS. 



the dorsiil muscles ai-e contracted niifl tlie opercula 

 expanded, as often Imppens when the tish is thrown 

 into strong spirit, tliis relation undergoes considerable 

 alteration, the disk, the anterior margin of Avhich is 

 genei-ally situated almost vei-tically below the hind 

 margin of the eye, now l}ing almost entirely behind the 

 head. The vent, wliicli is situated about half-way be- 

 tween the hind margin of tJic base of the sucking-disk 

 and the beginning of the anal lin, is large and broad, 

 especially in the female, as its dermal fold also encloses 

 the transverse genital opening, behind the vent proper. 

 The margin of the genital opening is often verrucose, 

 and the genital pai)illa is distinct in the males, less so 

 in the females. The dorsal tin occupies the greater 

 l)art of the back, Init varies somewhat in this respect, 

 the distance between it and the tij> of the snout being 

 from "2'2 to 29 % of the length of the body. The dis- 

 tance between its last rav' and tlie caudal tin is equal 

 to, or somewhat less than, the least depth t)f the tail, 

 but this space is generally tilled by the fin-meml)]-ane, 

 and the tijjs of the last two rays of the dorsal fin, 

 when depressed, sometimes extend to the base of the 

 caudal fin. The first rays of the dorsal fin, generally 

 to a number of 13, are true, unarticulated, spinous rays, 

 and lieliind this point the i-ays are simple, but articu- 

 lated. The margin of the fin forms a double curve in 

 the following fashion: the middle spinous rays are shorter 

 than the rays on either side of them", while the rays 

 imm(!(liately following them are gradually elongated as 

 they pass into the soft rays, but the middle soft rays 

 are the longest in the whole fin. The caudal fin is 

 truncate, but rounded at the corners. Its length varies 

 between IG',', and 19 % of that of the body, or between 

 72 and 95 % of that of the head. The anal fin is ana- 

 logous to the posterior part of the dorsal fin in form 

 and structure, but lies a little further liack, the tips 

 of its hindmost rays, when depressed, generally ex- 

 tendina' to the l)ase of the candid tin and sometimes a 

 little l)eyond it. The first .'! or 4 rays are spinous. 

 The anal Hii is longer in the male than in the female; 

 and if its length he measured to the base of the caudal 

 fin, tlic dividing-line between the characters of the two 

 sexes, in an adult state, falls at about 45 % of the length 

 of the l)o(lv. One of the results of this circumstance 

 is that the distance between tlie anal fin and the ti]) 



of the snout is greater in the female than in the male, 

 and in this case the dividing-line seems to lie at about 

 43 'fc of the length of the body. 



In adult specimens (Plate X\', fig. 2) the colour 

 is generally brownish red, above and in front darker, 

 below and behind lighter, and everywhere strewn with 

 small. d:irk s])ots and dots, which on tlie fins form 

 bands straight across the i-ays. Lighter varieties also 

 occur, however, in which the ground-colour shades more 

 or less distinctly into mellow, green or gray. Even 

 V. Wkight gives a figure of a fairly large young spe- 

 cimen (Plate XV, figs. 3 and 4), which was pale 3'ellow, 

 with pale red spots; and Malm's Liparis waciilatiis is 

 a, colour-variety of the same desci'iption, though more 

 sti'ongly tinged with gray. Another form, most com- 

 mon among young specimens, but sometimes occurring 

 among older ones, is marked with dark lines on the 

 lig-hter "i-ound-colour. wliicli are undulating, melting 

 into elliptical I'ings, or interrupted (Plate XV, fig. 5). 

 For this varietv we have obtained permission to borroAv 

 Malm's figure of his Liparifi nilr/aris. Light spots on 

 a dark ground-coloui-, on the other hand (Plate X\', 

 fig. H), mark the varietv described by Malm, and en- 

 titled Liparis Eksfromii. In this variety, when the spots 

 become predominant, and the ground-colour appears 

 only a.s a network, we have Couch's'' Lipaiis rctiruhifus. 

 With regard \o all these colour-varieties and their inter- 

 mediate forms, of which Collett gives eight, we may 

 refer the i-eader to Hkixcke's remarks on the variations 

 of colour in the Gobies, as quoted above (p. 252). 



^lontagu's Sea-Snail or, the Lesser Sea-Snail, as it 

 has also been called, not without reason, is described 

 by Day as a comparatively lively fish, but is by no 

 means destitute of the power or the halnt, which it 

 shares \vitli the other members of the family, of attuch- 

 ijig itself to some object h\ means of its sucking-disk. 

 At such nionients these fishes lie in a coil, with the 

 tail curved towards the head, in the position shown in 

 our figure (Plate X\', fig. 4). This species is often 

 found in this position, hidden among the stones at the 

 ebb, either above low-water mark or in verj' shallow 

 water. It is also found, however, in the deepest sea- 

 weed-regions, at as great a depth as 20 fathoms at least. 

 Its habits are, with this excejition, little known. From 

 March to A\\\\. on the coast of Hohusliin, gravid females 



" In a Califoriiiau form. (_!i/i-lij(jiiiilcr (A'cui/jicinf) miicosiis, this bend is su deep that the dorsal fin is apparently divided into two parts 

 (SrniNDACHNEit, Iclitli. Beitv. (Ill), p. 54). 



'' FL^h Urit. /.«/., vol. II, p. l'.)r>, (ah. evil, fig. 3. 



