GKAYl.lXGS. 



HH:i 



Tlu! (iraylinirs" closest ;i[)i)r()ach to the Saluious appears in tlie foliowing relations: 



To tile (iwA-niads tlie (;ra\lini>-s eome nearest m the followini;' relations: 



In tlic size and texture of the scales tlie Gniylings 

 also stand nearer to the Gw\niads, and ])artake, to- 

 gether with the latter f^enus, in the approximation of 

 the Salmonoid type to the Cyprinoid. 



The development of the dorsal tin in the (iray- 

 lings, their most distinctive character, has the result 

 that the average distance between this tin and the 

 snout is only about 35 % of the length of the body. 

 In this respect Thymallus stands alone in the Sal- 

 monoid family. The ojjposite extreme we iind in Mal- 

 lotiis, where the said average is more than -lO % of 

 the length of the body. 



The name of Tlii/ni/illus {&vuu/./.og) dates from 

 -Elian — about 120 A. 1). — and has reference to the 

 thymy smell which some have supposed the tish to 

 (!mit. In Lixx.EUs it was a specitic name: Cuvikk 

 raised it to a generic rank". 



Excluding the two nominal species TIiijdi. oiituri- 

 ci/sis and TInjm. 2fciieusii, which have l)een recognised 

 by \'alenciennE!s'' alone, and which have already been 

 repudiated by Gunther', and also excluding the ob- 

 scure Tltym. Gnihei, Dyb. and Thym. brevirostris, Kessl. 

 fi'om Southern Sib<n-ia and Central Asia, there hardly 

 remain more than two species of the genus TJ/yiiialliis 

 that can la}' claim to recognition. (.)f these two the 

 North Siberian Thjiui. aret/cus {PaUasii)'' is especially 

 remai'kal)le as re])resenting in by far the most respects 

 the characters of jouth and of the females, while in 

 others — even in tlie most distinctive character of the 

 genus, the length of the base of the dorsal tin — it 

 has attained a more advanced development than our 

 common species, 



° R'egne Animal, eil. 2, toine 2, p. 306. 



' Cdv., Val., Hist. Nal. Poiss., vol. XXI, pp. 452 and 4.'i3. 

 ' Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. VI, p. 200. 



'' Thymallus signifer, Richardson, from North America, is probably iilentical witli this species, though for the present we must leav( 

 this tiuestion open. See Siirrr, Riksm. Salmon., p. 206. 



