(502 



.S( A XDIXAVIAX FISHES. 



been foiiiifl on the soutli coast c)t' Ii-clatid lying dead 

 on the iicMcli at'ter a stnrni. Tlirougli [)rof'essor S. 

 LovEjs the Tioyal Museum rectiived in 1880 a specimen 

 tiiat liad been caught by Fislierman H. ^^'KSTEK(iUl•;^" 

 "at a depth of from 100 to 200 fathoms on the' Jut- 

 land Reef,' west of the Skaw. This specimen seems 

 to have been taken from the stomach of some larger 

 tish (pnibaliU- a Cod or Ling) where it had S(_)me time 

 undergone the prcjcess of digestion, for the skin together 

 with all the fins and a great portion of the tail has 

 been digested, the hindmost of the remaining vertebra? 

 being (piite bare. In its present condition the specimen 

 is 188 mm. long, the greatest depth of the body 11 

 mm., tlie length of the head 23 mm., the length of the 

 lower jaw 13 nnn., the longitudinal diameter of the 

 orbit 4"5 mm., the length of the eye-ball 3'6 mm., the 

 postorbital length of the head 16 mm., and the distance 



between tlie tip of the snout and the vent 29 mm. 

 To judge In' the length of the head tlie specimen, when 

 perfect, has been only slightly smaller than the one 

 described bv Collett. The latter specimen was 22.5 

 una. long: it was found in .March. ISSl, floating at the 

 surface ofl' Rovasr, outside Stavanger Fjord, and for- 

 warded by Dr. Jensen to Bergen Museum. These two 

 specimens are uj) to the ])resent the only finds of the 

 species within the limits of the Scandinavian fauna. 

 According to Coucu (I. c.) the distinguished collector 

 and observer Thomas Edwards found 6 small examples 

 of this species, between (5 and 7 cm. long, in March, 

 1863, on a sandy bottom off the coast of Banff. They 

 moved thi'ough the water, he wrote, like Pipe-fishes, but 

 never attempted to hide among seaweed or under stones, 

 preferring to keep to the sand, where they -would lie for 

 hours Avith the body in an undulating or curved position. 



1am LYCODID^. 



Body elongated, more or less anguilliform, in front terete, behind, compressed, naked or covered irifh thin cycloid 



sc(des. All the vertical fins confluent: no separate caudal fin. Jaws {sometimes the palate as well) armed u-ith 



tcctJi. Gill-iipciiinr/s vertical and small, the hratichiostegal membranes coalescing bvhur irith the skin and fonnin/i 



a broad isthmus. Pseudobranchice distinct. Air-bladder iranting. Pi/loric appendages usnallg iranting, 



but sometimes present in a rudinn'ntar// form. 



This family, which Ave here range last among the 

 Anacanthini, occupies a singular intermediate position 

 between other types. Aktedi" and Linx-eus' referred 

 the only species that they knew, the Eelpout or Vivi- 

 parous Blenny, to the genus Blennius; Gislek'', the 

 first to discover the occurrence of this species in Scan- 

 dinavia, regarded it as an intermediate form bet-ween 

 Blennius and Ojdridion. (Juvier'' adhered to Artedi's 

 opinion, and Heiniiardt'', the first describer of the 

 types of the second division of the family, acknowledged 

 that Lycodes ought to be referred to Cuvier's Mala- 

 copterygii thoracici, but still ranged the genus beside the 

 Blennies, on the grounds that it was a link between 

 Anarrhicha.s and Zoarcceus (Enchelyopus), which latter 



" Syii. Pise, p. 4.5. 



' Fii. Siiec, ofl. II, p. U.T. 



' Vet.-Akad. Haiidl. 1748, p. 42. 



'' Rhjne Animal, ed. II, tome II, p. 240. 



' Danskc Vid. Selsk. Naturv., Math. Afli., Ucel 7, p. 147 



^ Abh. Akad. Wiss. Berlin 1844, p. 10.5. 



'J Sveriges och Norges fiskar, part II. p. 17. 



genus "evidently was an offshoot of the (Jadoid family." 

 The same reasoning recurs in MuiXEii'', who united the 

 LycodidfC to the Blenniidcc on account of the pseudo- 

 branchiu'. LiLL.jEBuiio' has grouped together the osteo- 

 logical characters that separate the Lycodidce from the 

 Gadidce. We notice in particular the absence in the 

 former (jf the two characteristics of the latter that we 

 have mentioned above, namely the great extent of the 

 styloid bone (a character which is also wanting, how- 

 e^ er, in the Sand-Eels) and the lobate process on the 

 hind part of the upper margin of the intermaxillarj' 

 bones (which is also wanting in the Ophidioids). By 

 the majority of their characters, however, the Lycodoids 

 are joined to the other Onomorphi as Malacoptei-ygian 



