TIIKKK-IJKARDEI) IK KKI.IX(i. 



553 



wauling. Tlic pylorus is I'ui'uislicd with 12 — 1 (> cu'cal 

 ajjpendapes. The iicritoueuui is black, but the inside 

 of the mouth and the walls of the branchial cavity 

 are wliite. 



The coloration is of a more or less light reddish 

 brown (ehestuut-eolour) or even grayish yellow, darkest 

 on the back and fading d(jwn the sides into the red, 

 yellow, or sometimes white colour of llie belly. The 



ing to LuTKK.v, by two short, erect spines on each 

 temple, a characteristic which led Kkoyeu to label the 

 specimens in Copenhagen Museum with the name of 

 MoteJla quadricornis. In specimens 27 mm. long, how- 

 ever, these spines have already disappeared. 



The Three-Bearded Rockling was added to the 

 Scandinavian fauna in 18;^)2 by Professor S. Xii.ssoN, 

 who f((und it within tin- island-belt in the neiichbour- 



the sides of the bo(l\-, ihe caudal tin, and the hood of Bergen; and in this di.strict, according to Pro- 



hea 



pectoral tins are mai'ked with irregularly scattered, 

 ^roundish spots of darker brown or even of black, and 

 at the toj) of the back we tind a row of numerous, 

 dark, selliform transverse sjjots, which extend out over 

 the dorsal fin. The upper (outer) |)art (jf this tin may 



fessor CoLLETT, it now and tlien appears during sum- 

 mer in the market. In l.sii? Dr. P. Ols.sox saw it 

 taken off Aalesund; but even on the coast of Norway 

 it nmst be regarded as fairly rare. ( hi the coast of 

 Sweden there is only one recorded instance of its oc- 



also be marked with a row of I'oundish spots of the currence". On the 22nd of November, 1886, Dr. Stl"X- 



same dai'k colour. The rest of the tins are of a more | berg received a specimen that had been caught in the 



or less deep red or cjrange, at least at the margin. ! island-lielt of Gothenburg. The species has its ti"ue 



The whole of this marking of spots is generally want- I home on the coasts of England and South-Avestern Eu- 



ing, however, in young Rocklings, which are of a plain , rope and in the Mediterranean.' It generally lives in 



reddish brown or marked with lighter (yellow) spots, , shallow water, even between the tide-marks, where the 



the lielly being lighter, sometimes white. 



The fry of the Three-Bearded Rockling {(Jouchla 



bottom is rocky and thickly overgrown with seaweed. 

 Here "it threads its way with great ease and rapidity" 



argenteola) resendile the other CoHchhc, but are distin- j (Buckland), or hides itself among the seaweed or under 

 guished from them liy the luimber of the barbels. The I stones. It is also found, however, on a weedy bottom 



Swedish Eugenie I'^xpedition found these fry in the At- 

 lantic north of Madeira, and Captain Werxgren brought 

 home specimens from the Mediterranean. All these spe- 

 cimens, between 27 and 33 mm. long, have only 16 — 18 

 rays in the ]iectoral tins, and thus, according to LOt- 

 KEx's remarks, should be assigned either to Onos fuscns 

 or to Onos mcditenatiens, provided that the number of 

 rays in the pectoi'al tins be constant even in the fry. 

 The very earliest stages, before the tirst dorsal tin is 

 distinctly developed, but still some time after the ap- 

 pearance of the nasal barbels, are distinguished, accord- 



of ooze and in from 30 to 40 fathoms of water. Its 

 food is composed of crustaceans, small fishes. Annelids, 

 and mollusks. It takes a hook readily; and in some 

 parts of England, according to Couch, it is regarded 

 as a delicacy; but it is generally eaten, says Day, only 

 by the poor*, as it acquires a far from pleasant smell 

 soon after death. Its spawning-season seems to occur 

 during winter and in spring. In October Thomp.sox 

 met with a male with well-developed testes, while 

 Couch found the species ready to spawn at the end 

 of April. 



" X statement (hiit tlie species had once before been acquired by Gotlienburg Jliiseum, is due, according to Dr. Stixberg, to some 



mistake. 



'■ Tliis is also tlie case in Italy, according to XiN.Ni {Esp. intern. Ji Pesca, Berl. 1880, Sez. Ital., Catal.. i>. 180). 



Scfindinaviati yiahes. 



