ML'LLKRS TDl'KNor. 



461 



the iieifrhboiivli()(i<l of Landskroiia. Accordiiiii- lo Sciiager- 

 STKOm", li()wc\c'r, its iisiinl Icn^Lilli in llic Somul is no more 

 tliiiii 12 — 1") cm., though m siicciincii '2'2 cm. long li;is 

 Ik'cu taken off l>;nulski-ona. According to Malm it is i'ound 

 "along th(^ whole coast of Uohusliin, where it geuei'ally 

 keeps to a vocky bottom, ;it a (h'lilii oi' tVom 7 to 9 fa- 

 thoms, and is taken prett^• (jften, parth' in I'lounder-nets 

 and parth' in lohster-])ots." Fries found the species in 

 IX.'Ui and IHo? at the entrance of Gullmar Fjord; and in 

 recent years the Koval Museum has received specimens 

 of Mi'dlei's 'ro|)knot tliat liad heen taken together \\ith 

 other fishes in tiie Cattegat, "12 miles off Halmstad." 

 The food of Midler's Tojjknot is composed of fish 

 and crustaceans. In the i)iiarvnx of a s])ecimen 20 era. 

 long, from Dynekil, I found a Black (iohy, of a total 

 lengtli of about 8' o cm., but witii the forepart already 

 digested, while the hind part and the caudal fin had stuck 

 fast in tlie ])haryiix. In the stomacli of Fiedler's Topknot 



GoTTSCHK found shrimps (l'alcei)ioii and Mijsis), Kr0YER 

 "a half digested tish, perhaps a young Herring," and 

 Ol.sso.n'' Sand-eels (Aiinnodiifcfi). 



The s|)a\vning-season occurs in spring and summer. 

 The above; specimen from Dynekil is a female with al- 

 most I'ipe roe, and was taken on the 12th of May, 1887; 

 and on the Uth of June, 18.).3, Malm received a female 

 that had been taken off Inholmar'', and "was on the very 

 poinr of depositing its I'oe." In September the fry have 

 attained a length of al)0ut 2o mm. "As the ovaries are 

 b\- no means small, and the eggs extremely tine and eon- 

 se(juently very numerous, it is difficult to explain," .says 

 Kroyiok, "why this specie.s is so rare in our waters." 



Still, Fiedler's Topknot is not a rare species, lint it 

 is despised. Fishermen generally pay no attention to it: 

 its handsome appearance has no charms for them. In 

 Scandinavia there is no demand for it, tliough its flesh'' 

 is said t(j Ije of excellent flavovu'. 



OXOMOKPHI. 



S'l/iiinietrical Jfalacopfeii/c/iait I'lnjsodijsts" iritli the Joircr jtli<iri/ii(/eals free from each other, ("audal tin diphy- 



ceiral (isooercal). Ventral tins, where present, jugular. 



The Codfishes, the t}'pe of this series, were known 

 b\- the Greeks as anas-', by the Romans as asellus, both 

 these names referring to the coloration of the body in 

 these fishes, gray above and white below, which appar- 

 ently had some fancied resemblance to the colour of the 

 ass. The series is particularly rich in forms, and in- 

 cludes the greater part of Mullek's Anacuiifhini". In 

 GCnther's writings it is termed Anacanthinl gadoiclei. 



From the rest of the ^lalaeopterygian Physoclysts 

 the series is sixfficientlv distinguished by its symmetrical 

 structure, which is not disturbed, as in the preceding 

 series by any shifting of the e3-e, and b^• the free lower 

 pharj-ngeals, which are not luiited to eacii other, as in 

 the next preceding sei'ies. In addition to these charac- 



ters, however, it has one which separates it from most 

 of the preceding osseous fishes in general, and which lies 

 in the structure of the caudal iin. In the Onomorphous 

 fishes this part of the body apparently remains persist- 

 ently at a stage of development that is proper to the em- 

 bryo in most fishes, the termination of the spinal column 

 being straight at tlie end, and occupying the middle of 

 the l)ase of the c-audal tin. In most of the Onomorphs 

 the caudal part retains this structure throughout the life 

 of the tish; or tlie caudal tin may even be absolutely re- 

 duced, in which case the tail ends like a whip-lash. I'mt 

 in the true Cods and their kindred species, M-ith well- 

 developed (secondary) caudal fin, the last two hivmal 

 arches are transformed into true hypural bones — not so 



» Physiogr. Sallsk Tidskr., p. 312. 



* Lunds Univ. Arsskr. 1871, [.. 10 (sep.). 



' North of Vinga, in the ishmd-bolt of Gothenburg. 



<* Cornish, in Day. 



' According to Guntiiei; {Report On the .S/iore Fislies. Zool. ClialL Exp., Purl. VI, p. 1^) Murcenolepis — fam. Ophidiida; but with 

 the first ray of the dorsal tin filamentous and separated from the others — is furnished with a pneumatic duct from the air-bladder. Tlius, 

 this genus, within the above family, has the characters of the Eels (Ajwdes) as well as of the Onion-fishes {Macntrida:). 



f ovog or ovlayiog; also -/.ccXkaqictg or yaXXaqiai;. The largest Cods, however, according to Plisy (lib. 9, cap. 17), were known by 

 the Greeks as bacchus. Gadits is a younger Greek name, which is said to occur first in AtheN'.eus (about 150 A. D.), in a ((notation from 

 Dorio.n: ""Orot; 6V y.aXioval Tiieg yddof." 



v Cope (Trans. Araer. Philos. Soc, Pliilad., vol. XIV, n. ser., p. 458) and Gll-i. (Smitlis. Misc. Coll., No. 247, p. ?>) also confine the 

 name of Anacanthini to tliis series exclusively. 



