I( , LYCom.VK. 



2nd and ^rd of which are in line each with its cross-band, whilst the ist, in the Aery front corner of 

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

 Rak show the same colour-markings as the foregoing, but the comparison must be made with much 

 smaller specimens, because the cross-bands in those from the Skager Rak have already disappeared 

 as a rule at the same size as the above. 



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

 The colour-markings are as in the foregoing; the dark cross-bands are however somewhat fainter, but 

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



Observation of the remaining specimens shows that the colour-markings of the young become 

 more and more indistinct with age, especially in the males. Even in the largest female, 415 mm. long, 

 there are still traces of the dark bands, 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, 

 parti v in the form of rings, can scarcely be discerned or have entirely disappeared; at the same time, 

 the belly is often of a sharply delimited, relatively 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. 1, fig. 2 c) and female (Tab. I, fig. 2 b), sometimes also the second and third spot. 



The scaly covering 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 ventral border of the tail and 

 rises dorsallv over the anus in order to reach the upper notch of the gill-opening 'I. 



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

 probably in relation to the fact that the Greenland form, taken on the whole, is a stronger race; 

 in this regard also, the Iceland specimens are transition-forms so that 110 specific distinctions can be 

 grounded on these differences. This point will be further considered later (p. 19). 



Since the general appearance of the body offers no mark of distinction either - that the 

 species reaches a very much greater size at Greenland than at Iceland (cf. p. 19) denotes again only a racial 

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

 belong to the same species. 



J.ycodes litgubris Liitken. 



Tab. II, Fig. ( a. b. 



Before treating of this form I think it opportune to refer to some Lycodes which have recently 



been received at the Zoological Museum from the east coast of Iceland. Thev were procured by 



'i This seems to 'lispnte Liitken's observation: As Hr. Collett has called to my attention, there is some reason 



for considering there is another lateral line, a mediolateral, in one of the present specimens (Nr. 7) (Vidensk. Medd. 



Naturh. Foren. 1880, p. 312) and Collett's still more definite assertion: it must however be admitted, that one of the 

 typical specimens of L. vahlii exhibits traces of a mediolateral line (The Norw. North-Atl. Exp., Fishes, p. S6). From an exact 

 examination of the specimen concerned. I have come to the result that Collett's observation was perfectly correct; but at the 

 same time I am nevertheless of the opinion that this specimen is not /.. -cah/ii at all — in spite of the fact that it is one 

 of Reinhardt's type-specimens — but on the contrary, 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 distinguish as a special species isee further under L. eudipleurostictus p. 36). 



