122 



Det vil heral' være indlysende. hvor vauskeligt elet er 

 etter et enkelt eller nogle faa Individer at fremsætte siki-e 

 Artseharacterer indeu denne Slægt, hvorfor Arternes Be- 

 grændsning endnu idethele er i tiere Punkter usikker. 



Skjællene. ere, som hos alle skjælbærende Lycoder, 

 runde, adskilte, og nedtrykte i Huden, hvidagtige af Fa¥ve, 

 samt overalt af temmelig lige Størrelse, lilot uhetydeligt 

 mindre paa Halen. Langs Ryglinien staa de ubetydeligt 

 tættere, end paa andre Steder af Legemet; dog berøre 

 Skjællenes Rande intetsteds hinanden. 



Sidelinien. En Sidelinie, der er ventral, er tilstede, 

 om den end blot med Yanskelighed lader • sig forfolge i sin 

 Helhed. Fra Gjadlespaltens ovre Ende nedlober i skråa 

 Retning indtil et kort Stykke bagenfor Anus en Række 

 temmelig tætstaaende, særdeles smaa Porer, forbundne ind- 

 byrdes ved en lin Linie; efterat have naaet ned næsten 

 til Grunden af Analfinnen, løber Rækken langs med denne 

 et Stykke ud mod Caudalen, uden at det med Nøjagtighed 

 kan angives, livor den ophører. Maaske vil den hos fuldt 

 udvoxede Exemplarer lade sig forfølge lige til Haluspidsen. 

 Den er tydeligst hos det største Individ, hvis Skjælbeklæd- 

 ning endnu blot er i sit Frembrud. 



Samtidig kan under gunstig Belysning spores hos et 

 Pai' af Individerne en Række yderst smaa og tjerntstiUede 

 Porer langs Legemets Midtlinie, men- uden at denne Række 

 har Characteren af uogen Sidelinie. 



Farve. Farven er ensfarvet lyst graabrun; Skjællene 

 overalt lysere, end Legemets Bimdfarve. Nedenfor Midt- 

 linien er Legemet hos et af Individerne ubetydeligt lysere, 

 end ovenfor denne. Bughinden er gjennemskinuende sort, 

 selv hos de største Exemplarer. hvilket i Forbindelse med 

 Skjælbeklædningens Udvikling antyder, at intet af dem har 

 naaet sin fulde Udvikling. 



Størrelse. Flere Omstændigheder tyde saaledes hen 

 paa, at intet af Individerne endog tilnærmelsesvis have 

 naaet sin fulde Størrelse. Vi have . i det foregaaende paa- 

 vist, at Yngelen af L. frigidus er fuldkommen normalt ud- 

 viklet og har fuld Pigmentering. som de Udvoxede. med en. 

 Totallængde af 37 og 62""", og Arten kan dog opnaa en 

 Størrelse af over 500"""; hos L. esmarkii, der kan opnaa 

 en Størrelse af over 600""", var det samme Tilfældet hos 

 en Unge med en Totallængde af 81™"'. 



Da det mindste Exemplar af L. muraena, hvis To- 

 tallængde er 112"'™. endnu var transparent, og har fuld- 

 kommen Characteren af en spæd Yngel, ligesom tVemdeles 

 Skjælbeklædningen hos et Individ med en Totallængde af 

 217"'"' endnu blot befandt sig i sit første Frembrud. er det 

 sandsynligt, at man i Fremtiden vil lære at kjende Arten 

 som en mærkeUg. aalelignende Form af ganske betydelig 

 Støn-else, naar Apparaterne til Dybvandsiiskes Erhvervelse 

 blive saa fuldkomne. at de ere istand til at ophente saa- 

 danne Former, (som det paa Grund af deres Legems- 

 bygning maa antages ere særdeles hurtige), i sin fuldt ud- 

 viklede Tilstand. 



Hence we see how difficult it is from a single speci- 

 men, or several individuals even, to work out specific char- 

 acters for this geiius; and the limits of its species are 

 therefore in many respects as yet uncertain. 



As in all of the scaled Lycods, the scales are round, 

 non-contiguous, and imbedded in the skin, whitish in colour, 

 and everywhere nearly equal in magnitude, those on the 

 tail only being a trifle smaller. Down the dorsal line they 

 lie a little closer than on the other parts of the body, the 

 margins however coming nowhere in contact. 



Lateral Line. — A lateral line (ventral) is present, 

 though difficult to trace throughout its entire length. From 

 the upper extremity of the gill-opening, a. series of small, 

 and" rather closely set, pores, passes obliquely downwards to 

 within a short distance behind the vent; after descending 

 nearly to the base of the anal, the series accompanies 

 that fin a short distance in the direction of the caudal,- 

 the exact point at which it terminates not admitting how- 

 ever of being determined. In full-grown examples, it will, 

 perhajis. be traceable to the tip of the tail. It is most 

 distinct in the largest individual, on which the scales are 

 just beginning to appear. 



Exclusive of the above, a series of minute pores 

 may be discerned, in a good light, in one or two of the 

 specimens, extending along the mesial line of the body; 

 but this series has not the character of a lateral line. 



Colour. — A uniform light greyish-brown ; the scales 

 everywhere lighter than the ground-colour of the body. 

 Below the mesial line, the body, in one of the specimens, 

 is somewhat lighter than above it. The ventral membrane 

 a lustrous black, even in the largest iudividiials. from which, 

 along with the peculiarities of development in the scales, 

 we may infer that they have none of them attained 

 maturity. 



Size. — Several circumstances, therefore, give reason 

 to infer that none of the individuals were full-grown. 

 We have already shown, that the fry-specimens of L. frig- 

 idiis, total length from 37""" to 63'""", have all the charac- 

 ters of the adult fish, inclucUng the coloration, and yet 

 the species can attain a length of SOO""", and above; this 

 was the case, too, with a specimen of L. esmarkii, with 

 a total length of 81""", the extreme length in this species 

 being upwards of 600'""'. 



The smallest example of L. miiræna, total length 

 112"'"'. being still semi-translucent, and its general appear- 

 ance precisely that of a fry-specimen; and moreover, the 

 scales in one individual, with a total length of 217""", having 

 only just commenced developing, — it is not improbable, that 

 at some future period the species will be met with as an 

 anguilliform Lycodes of very considerable dimensions, when 

 the apparatus for the capture of deep-sea fishes shall have 

 been so far improved, as to admit of bringing up such 

 forms (which from the structure of their body must be 

 assumed to be rapid swimmers) in the final stage of 

 development. 



