PISCES. 143 



species are without scales ; this is the case in the two species that were 

 known to Linnfeus. Sp. Batrachus grunniens Bloch, Cottus grunniens L. 

 (excl. synon. Marcge.), Bloch Ichth. Tab. 179, Batraclioides gangene 

 Buchanan, Gangetic Fishes, PI. 14, fig. 8 ; in the East Indies; — Batrachus 

 tau, Gadus tau L. (not Bl.), Batrachoides vernullus Lesueur, Mem. 

 du Mus. V. pp. 157, 158, PI. 17, fig. 2; west coast of North America. 



Other species have scales. Sp. Batrachus surinaviensis Bloch, Schn. 

 Syst, Ichth. Tab. 7, Lac. Poiss. 11. PI. 12, fig. i ; — Batrachus consjpicillum 

 Cuv,, Gadus tau Bloch, Ichth. Tab. 67, fig. 2.^ 



Family XXIV. Blennioidei Muell. Body elongate, com- 

 pressed, with skin naked, mucous or covered with small scales 

 (cycloid). Dorsal fin very long. Ventral fins separate, supported 

 by only two or three rays, thoracic or jugular, sometimes none. 

 Pyloric appendages none. Swimming-bladder none. Branchioste- 

 gous membrane mostly with six rays. 



AnarrMclias L. Body compressed, with scales small, covered 

 by mucous skin. Head anteriorly obtuso-rotundate. Mouth ante- 

 riorly with strong conical teeth in both jaws, and with rotun- 

 date tubercles dentiferous at the apex at the posterior part of both 

 jaws, on vomer and palate-bones. Branchiostegous membrane with 

 seven rays. Ventral fins none. Dorsal fin very long; caudal 

 fin distinct, rounded. 



Sp. Anarrhichas lupus L., Bloch Ichth. Tab. 74, Cuv. E. Ani., ed. ill., Poiss. 

 PI. 79, fig. 2 ; Sea-wolf, Loup marin, Chat marin, &c. ; in the North Sea, 

 not in the Medit. Sea ; common in the North, especially at Iceland, 

 where it is eaten dried and salted, whilst its skin is made into bags, and 

 its gall used for soap. This fish is very predacious, and may attain a 

 length of seven feet, quite an extraordinary size in this family. The brain 

 is very small. In a specimen of 1.04 meters I found it not more than 0.02 

 long (from the origin of the olfactory nerves to the posterior margin of the 

 cerebellum), and the greatest breadth (of the corpora quadrigemina) only 

 o.oi. Compare on the osteology Kuhl's Beitrdge. 



Dictyosoma Schleg. Dorsal fin low, very long, produced 

 from behind the head nearly as far as the apex of tail, supported 

 by numerous pungent rays, in the posterior part by some only 



1 Here would seem to belong the species which Nilsson described as Batrachus 

 horealis, but which does not appear to have been since observed. See Keoeyeb, 

 Danmark's Fiske, pp. 473, 474. It occurs to us that this species may be Batrachus 

 harbatus Valenc, Batrachus didactylus Bl., Schn., of which a specimen had strayed 

 from the African to the Swedish coast. 



