(iliEAT FORKED HKAliD. 



543 



to h;ive l)eeii taken in HoluisUVn. Two of these are pre- 

 served in Gothenburg Museum, and the Royal Museum 

 has acquired through Mr. 0. A. Hansson a specimen 57 

 cm. long which was caught on a long-line at a dei)th 

 of l.')() fatiioms, nortii of Helso near Stronistad, on the 

 li'th of March, 1887. The lisherman who handed over 

 tiie specimen, stated, however, tliat the species was known 

 and called KitmrUI. it is more common to the south of 

 Norway, up to the neighbourhood of Ti'ondhjem, where 

 it is called Sfenhrosnie (Stone Torsk) or Skjcelbrosme 

 (Scaly Torsk). Young specimens, however, have never 

 been found on the Swedish coasts, and are at least ex- 

 tremeh' I'are in Norway, if they occur there at all, for 

 "all tiu^ specimens hitherto examined," says Collett, 

 '"have been full-grown oi- nearly so." Thus the true 



habitat of the Great Forked Beard does not lie in Scan- 

 dinavia, and scarcely in 15ritish waters", but further 

 south, in the Mediterranean. There it lives, says Risso*, 

 "collected in large shoals, and seems to prefer very deep 

 spots with a soft bottom, where it is taken in consider- 

 able numbers all tlic year round, on long-lines." Tlie 

 young specimens, whirli h'lsso regarded as a distinct 

 species {Phijcis Gmelini), are said t(j lead a solitary 

 life among the seaweed in shallower water (in the liltoral 

 zone). The food of the species consists of crustaceans 

 and tish. The females, according to Risso, are full of 

 roe towards the end of spring and during summei-. "The 

 flesh," he says, "is wholesome, juicy, and of good flavour 

 all the year round: it is one of the foods recommended 

 by physicians for W(';d< and impaired digestions." 



Genus ONOS. 



Tiro dorsal fins, thonfjli fli.e anterior one is broken tip into a row of free, Jilamentous raijs; one anal Jin: the 

 vertieal Jins distinctly separated (« distinct, fvnless peduncle of the tail). Ventrid fins irith (y — 8 rays. Cardi- 

 forin teeth on the intermaxillary hones, in the lon-er jaw, a)id on the head of the vomer. Branckiostegal rays 7'^. 



Risso ^ was the first to give this genus a special 

 name, and he selected for this purpose the name which 

 the Greeks applied to the Codfishes in general. The 

 genus has long been known, however, by the name of 

 Motella, which was given it somewhat later'^ by Cuvier, 

 liut which he expressly declared to be merely a divi- 

 sion of his subgenus Lota of the genus Gadus. In form 

 these fishes come nearest to the Burbot and the Lings, 

 and are therefore known in Swedish as skdrldngor (Rock 

 Lings), in Danish as havkvabber (Sea Burbots). 



Tlie chief character of the genus lies in the singular 

 structure of the first dorsal fin, which is broken up into 

 a number of free, filamentous rays, united by the fin- 

 membrane only at the base — which lies hidden in a 

 deep groove in the dorsal margin. The fin-membrane, 

 however, is generally comparatively thick and skin-like. 

 The rays are usually of uniform height and short, with 

 the exception of the first, ■which is more or less elongated, 

 sometimes considerably so. Another striking character- 

 istic of these fishes is the equipment of the snout ^vith 

 barbels. Not only is the lower jaw, like that of so many 



" Though it undoubtedly spawns there, for DaV gives a figure, 



' Eur. .1/>'V. T. Ill, ji. 224. 



'■ Exceptionally 5. 



'' Exceptionally 6. 



* Eur. MerkL, tome III, p. 21-t — Oiios. 



■' Regne Animal, cd. 2, foni. 11, p. 3.S4. 



other Codfishes, furnished with a Imrbel under the cliin, 

 and the hind margin of the anterior nostrils raised and 

 elongated into a similar filament; but in this genus tlie 

 tij) of the snout may also be furnished with one or two 

 similar barbels. In one species we find on each side of the 

 snout, on a level with the last-mentioned barbels, a row 

 of three shorter, rudimentary excrescences of this nature, 

 grooving on the dermal margin in Avhich the free lower 

 margin of the preorbital bones is continued forward. 



The scales are small and thin, in texture almost 

 exactly like those of the Burbot, with fairly central 

 nucleus and dense (but during youth fewer and more 

 scattered), concentric stria^, denticulated at the margin. 

 The whole surface on each side of the nucleus is longi- 

 tudinally cut off, however, by a middle groove, which 

 grows somewhat broader towards the ends of the scale, 

 and is broadest at the anterior (inserted) end, which is also 

 notched. The lateral line opens into scattered (compara- 

 tively few) ducts, ^v•hich do not entireh' pierce the scales. 



The fry of these fishes (Plate XX\TI, fig. 2) are 

 quite ditt'erent from the old site<'imens, especially in 



in the natural size, of a young specimen .^* , in. long. 



