452 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



taken in a seine, at a deptli of G or 7 fathoms. On I a female that had just finished spawning, a few ripe 

 the coasts of France, according to Moreaij, it is rare, ' eggs being still left in the ovaries. The Whiff is a 



thoiigli it is sometimes exposed for sale. v. DCuen and 

 KoKEN assume that the spawning-season occurs in the 

 spring, as on tlie 4th of April they took a female "with 

 well-developed ovaries, though the roe did not seem 

 quite ripe for depositing." ()n the Irisli coast, on the 

 other hiind, Thompson found on the "ilst of October 



voracious fish-of-prey, as is shown by its large gape, 

 and lives on other fishes and crustaceans. As food it 

 is of very little importance in Scandinavia, thin as it 

 is and of so rare occurrence; Imt its flesh, according 

 to Duguid", is of exquisite flavour, though it will not 

 keep a single day. 



Genus SCOPHTHALMUS. 



Jaiv-teeth of uniform size (no canines), ^winted, recurved, small, and set in a card on the fro)it part of the inter- 

 maxillary bones and of the lower Jair- Head of the vomer toothless or'' furnished with small, indistinct teeth. 

 Palatine hones and tongue smooth. Loirer jjhari/iigeal teeth set in several roivs {cardiform). Most of the fin-rays 

 {except in the pectoral fin of the eye side) branched. Branchiostegal membranes united belon- fir a little way and 

 behind this point (also for a narrow strip) crossing each other. Branchiostegal rays 7. Median n-all of the branchial 

 cavity pierced abore the urohyoid bone by an oval hole. Ventral fins free from the ancd fin. Scales ciliated on 

 both sides of the body. Anal spine and preanal spines wanting. Distance between the anal fin and the tip of 



the snout less than the length of the head. 



In 1810'' Kafinesque coined a generic name, Scoph- 

 thalmns, but this was probal)ly merely a synonym of 

 BotJiiis'\ which just precedes it in his work. Bonaparte 

 adopted this name'', however, for a group of Bothoids (in 

 liis \vritings the genus Bhombns) which he characterized 

 hx the deep cleft of the mouth, the close approximation 

 of the ej^es, the situation of the vent exactly at the 

 ventral edge, and the ciliated scales. The last char- 

 acter, which aj)plies to both sides of the l)ody, unites 

 Scoplithalmus Knimaculatus of the Mediteri-anean and 

 the Atlantic up to the Shetland Islands with Scoph- 



thalmus norvegicus of the Scandinavian fauna. Both 

 these species too — as far as I could find in 8 speci- 

 mens of Scoplithalmus norvegicus — are without teeth 

 on the palate. It is thus evident that they must be- 

 long to the same genus for which Gunther has more 

 recently' proposed the name of Phrynorhombus. 



The genus Scophthalmtis thus contains two species 

 from Kui'opcan Avaters, the soutliern form with its deeper 

 body, forming a sort of transition to the following genus, 

 while the Scandinavian species is more akin to the pre- 

 ceding genus. 



" See Richardson, 1. c. 



'' In the Scandinavian species, according lo Steenstrup. 

 ■■ Ind. Ittol. Sic, p. 53. 



'' See Jordan and Giliskut, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1882, p. 57 C. 



'' Icon. Fit. Ital., torn. Ill (Pesci), p. No. 23 (sub Rhombus rhomboides) and tab. 103 (sub Rhombus uiiimaculatus). Here, it is true, 

 he speaks of Scophthalmtis merely as a subgenus ; but in the index (Noineiiclatura nioderna) lie lias included Scoplitlialmus imimacidatus. 

 / Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., Vol. IV, p. 414. 



