l6 LYCODINi^i. 



2nd and 3rd of which are in line each with its cross-band, wliilst tlie ist, in the \-ery front corner of 

 the fin, is in Hne with the posterior edge of the foremost cross-band. Specimens from the Skager 

 Rak show the same colour-markings as the foregoing, bnt the comparison mnst be made with mnch 

 smaller specimens, becanse the cross-bands in those from the Skager Rak have alread\- disappeared 

 as a rule at the same size as the above. 



The next larger .specimen is a female of 197 mm. long, determined as /.. vahlii by Liitken. 

 The colour-markings are as in the foregoing; the dark cross-bands are howe\'er somewhat fainter, bnt 

 that may perhaps be dne to their longer preservation in spirit. 



Observation of the remaining specimens shows that the colour-markings of the \oung l^ecome 

 more and more indistinct with age, especiall\' in the males. Even in the largest female, 415 nun. long, 

 there are still traces of the dark band.s, although they are partly resolved into ring-shaped markings. 

 The larger males, on the other hand, are darker than the females on the whole, so that the bands, 

 partl\- in the form of rings, can scarcel\- be discerned or have entireh' disappeared; at the same time, 

 the belly is often of a sharply delimited, relativeh- light, sometimes even quite white colour (Tab. I, 

 fig. 2 c). The dark spot on the anterior corner of the dorsal fin is very conspicuous both in the male 

 (Tab. I, fig. 2 c) and female (Tab. I, fig. 2 b), sometimes also the second and third spot. 



The scal\- co\ering has already attained essentially to its fullest extent in the 143mm. long 

 specimen (Tab. I, fig. 2 a), as it extends forwards to the neck (on a line across the gill openings), to the 

 bases of the pectoral fins and of the ventrals as well as out on to the unpaired fins. 



The lateral line is as in L. gracilis •: it courses along the \entral border of the tail and 

 rises dorsalh' over the anus in order to reach the upper notch of the gill-opening ')• 



The number of fin-rays differs .somewhat from that in the Scandinavian specimens, which is 

 probably in relation to the fact that the Cireenland form, taken on the \\-hole, is a stronger race; 

 in this regard also, the Iceland specimens are transition-forms so that no specific distinctions can be 

 grounded on these differences. This point will be further considered later (p. 191. 



Since the general appearance of the bod\- offers no mark of distinction either — that the 

 species reaches a very much greater size at Greenland than at Iceland (cf. p. 191 denotes again only a racial 

 difference — I look upon it as certain, that the (Greenland /.. vahlii and the Scandinavian L. gracilis 

 belong to the same species. 



Lycodes Ingnbris Liitken. 



Tat). II. Fig. I a, b. 



Before treating of this form I think it opportune to refer to some L\codes which ha\-e recenth' 

 been received at the Zoological Museum from the east coast of Iceland. The\' were procured b\- 



M This seems to dispute Liitken's obsenation : (As Hr. CoUett has called to iin- atteutioii, there is some reason 



for considering there is another lateral hne, a mediolateral, in one of the present specimens (Nr. 71 (Vidensk. Medd. 



N'aturh. Foren. 1880, p. 3121 and CoUett's still more definite as.sertion: < it must however be admitted, that one of the 

 typical specimens of L. vahlii exhibits traces of a mediolateral line (The Norw. North-.\tl. Exp., Fishes, p. 86). From an exact 

 examination of the specimen concerned, I have come to the result that Coll ett's observation was perfectly correct: but at tlie 

 same time I am nevertheless of the opinion that this .specimen is not L. vahlii at all — in .spite of the fact that it is one 

 of Reinhardt's type-specimens — but on the contrarj-, is identical as species with the fishes brought home by the Norwegian 

 North-Atlantic Expedition from Spitzbergen, which Collett took for young .specimens of L. esmarkii Coll.. but which I have 

 been obliged to di,stingui.sh as a special species (see further under L. eiidipleuiosticltis \>. },(i\. 



