936 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



nearer to the Herrings, and in Inminonsness they 

 are generally less developed. Several of them are 

 destitute of luminous spots, and the spots in the rows 

 most regularly jjresent, the ventral, are here, as a rule, 

 smaller and simjiler, whereas tlie spots of more irregular 

 occurrence are sometimes highly developed. Most of 

 these fishes have mai'ked predatory habits, but in tiiis 

 respect they are surpassed by the fourth subfamily, 

 the ChauHodontincB, which are distinguished l)y the 

 large canine teeth in the mouth, and which in the 

 situation of the ventral fins more neaidy approach 

 to the preceding subfarailv. The situation and deve- 

 lopment of tiir true dorsal tin separate this subfamily, 



as well as the others, from the I'andepidhue, where 

 the said tin is small and set far back, and from the 

 Alepisaurhicc, where the dorsal tin extends almost 

 throughout the dorsal margin. 



The name of Saurince has been coined by GuN- 

 thkk", after Saurus, a genus of extensive range in the 

 Mediterranean and the tropics. The subfamily is the 

 richest in forms among the Scopeloids, containing 

 about 50 species, which are distributed among 12 ge- 

 nera, M'ith or without luminous sjKjts, most of them 

 belonging to the deep-sea fauna, and some being pe- 

 lagic fishes. Within the Scandinavian fauna there 

 occur only two species of the 



Genus MYCTOPHUM. 

 Bndji Ilcrriuq-shapcd, lateralhi compressed, covered irifh ratlicr Inrfle scales, and furnished irifli luminous spots. 



As a generic name need onlj' be a name, and ac- 

 cording to the rules of the current nomenclature must 

 be recognised as such, even if it must be condemned 

 on linguistic principles, the name of Myctoplmm has 

 the right of priority, though its formation is erro- 

 neous or the result of a misprint. Nyctophus'', the 

 name \vhich Cocco afterwards" suggested as the cor- 

 rect one, was probably the form which Rafinesque'' 



intended to wi-ite; but an alteration seems hardly ne- 

 cessary. The genus has been best known under the 

 name of Scopelus (Cuvier, 1817'')i from \\-hich tlie name 

 of the \\-iiole family has been coined, though as a ge- 

 neric name it must be rejected. 



The genus contains about t\\'enty species of noc- 

 turnal surface-fishes from the open seas of tropical and 

 temperate latitudes. 



" Cat. Brit. Mils., Fish., vol. V, p. 394. 



' Night-light, Gr. yt'l and (fug. 



' N. Ann. Sc. Nat., An. 1. Tom. 11 (Bologna 1838), p. 180. 



'' bid. d'ltlinl. ^icil, 1810. 



' Rigne Animal, ed. 1, toiii. II, p. 169. 



