of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 127 



The meter was found in one specimen to start from the kidney at the 

 junction between the first and second vertebrae in front of the first 

 haemal arch. 



Poutassou. — This species has no barbel. When the skin was removed 

 from the dentaries, two small knobs were noticed in that region. 



The tongue is spear-shaped. The wide gap between the second and 

 third dorsal fins is characteristic. 



The lateral line is nearly straight ; it is inconspicuous in some 

 specimens. 



In one formaline specimen the skin was covered with minute black 

 spots. In another there was an extensive dark axillary region. The 

 snout was black. There appeared to be also a black pigment spot on the 

 middle rays of the tail fin. 



The black peritoneum sometimes shines through the abdominal wall 

 in preserved specimens. 



Gadus (Gadiculus) argenteus — Guichenot separated this form from 

 Gadua on account of the supposed absence of vomerine teeth in the 

 former. Giinther found, however, that the vomer does bear teeth. A 

 skull measuring 3.6 cm. in length, from one of the present specimens, had 

 very small teeth in the vomer. 



It is a fragile form, and the specimens were much frayed. The skin 

 had, as a rule, disappeared from the top of the head, exposing the cavities 

 in the frontal bone, and the fin-rays were usually snapped off. There are 

 therefore no data to show the relation in length between the pectoral and 

 ventral fins. The pectoral fin was measured in four cases, but in no 

 example was the ventral fin whole. 



A double hook is present on the dentaries, one hook on each bone, in 

 the region where the barbel is found in the Gadidae. 



The ureter leaves the kidney medianly just behind the end of the 

 swim-bladder. 



G. saida, Lepechin. — Vanhoffen obtained this species in quantity at 

 Karajak, Greenland. He describes it as follows : — " In the upper half of 

 the body it was of a brownish-grey colour, while the under-body had a 

 silvery appearance. The skin was dotted with very small black pigment 

 cells, which were at one time expanded into stellate chromatophores, at 

 another were contracted to dots. The fins also showed a more or less 

 broad dusky border, from which the black dusting extends along the fin- 

 rays to their bases. The scales were circular and very small." The 

 largest example found by Vanhoffen measured 22 cm. Jensen obtained 

 two specimens measuring 25 and 26*7 cm. in length respectively. 

 " Fabricius records one of a length of 35 - 6 cm." 



Vanhoffen institutes a comparison between saida and pollachius, virens 

 and minutus. " Minutus resembles saida in its colour, even to the indi- 

 cation of a black spot on the base of the pectoral fin. The main dis- 

 tinguishing features of saida are the small number of rays on the first anal 

 fin and the narrower root to the tail. Moreover, the form of the otolith 

 seems characteristic. 8aida is distributed over the whole North Polar 

 Sea, in East and West Greenland, Spitzbergen, Barents Sea, Behring Sea, 

 and on the coasts of Labrador." It is also found at Iceland (Schmidt). 



The barbel is very small. 



The membrane of the fins is thin, and the fin-rays are weak. 



The tail is broad dorso-ventrally. 



The head has great depth ; the mouth is very large. 



The lateral line is made out with difficulty by means of the small 

 detached scutes. It follows a sinuous course ; starting above the oper- 



