LYCODIN.E. 21 



wanting. In a 247 mm. long female, taken on July nth 1895 off Holstensborg, the eggs measured 

 scarcely 1 mm. in diameter, so that it was hardly ready for spawning in that year. A female 310 mm. 

 long, taken at Sukkertoppen August 5th 1885, seems to have spawned as the ovaries are collapsed 

 and contain very small eggs only. 



In a male of 180 mm., taken at Iceland on April 30th, the testes are very small (9,5 mm.) and 

 little developed. In a male 300 mm. long, likewise from Iceland, the testes measured ca. 30 mm. (the 

 free folds being ca. 7 mm.) and are much swollen. In larger males from Greenland the testes reach a 

 length of ca. 45 mm. (folds ca. 20 mm.). 



Distribution. 



In Scandinavia the species has been taken in Trondhjem fjord 1 ), in the Christiania fjord, 

 also in the Skager Rak and in the eastern Kattegat as far as the deep channel E. from Laeso, at 30—300 

 fathoms depth (cf. Collett 1. e. 1899 and C. G. Joh. Peterseu J )). At Iceland: on the east coast stud. 

 mag. Horring has taken 7 specimens at Reydarfjord, 44 fathoms, one in outer Reydarfjord, 60 — 80 

 fathoms, one in Nordfjord's Floiu, 35 — 55 fathoms and one in Seydisfjord, 30 — 60 fathoms; from the 

 North Land the Museum has obtained 5 specimens during the seventies from Ofjord; I have also had 

 a further specimen from the same fjord but of later origin 3); in the North-West Laud, Capt. Bast 

 obtained' a specimen in Arnarfjord in 1894, and lastly a specimen 3) has been taken at North-west Ice- 

 land , ca. 80 fathoms. At Greenland: the species has been taken at the following places all king 

 along the south-westerly stretch of coast: Nanortalik (ca. 6o° N.L.i, Fiskenaes, Godthaab, Sukkertoppen 

 and Ingolfs St. 31 (66° 35' NX.), 88 fathoms; the distribution therefore extends over ca. 6 1 ■> degrees 

 of latitude. 



Appendix. 



During my participation in the cruise of the Norwegian fisheries steamer, Michael Sars in 

 the summer of 1902, a specimen of Lycodes vahlii gracilis was taken in the English trawl at a depth 

 of 190 fathoms; the place (St. 47) lay off the south-west of Norway (6o° 57' N.L. 3 42'E.L.}. 



Lastly, through the kindness of Prof. Collett, I have had the opportunity to examine a 

 specimen which was taken (by the Michael Sars-, 14.5.01) much further to the north of Norway than 

 the species was hitherto known, namely at Baadsfjord (East Finmark). This specimen is conspicuous 

 by its considerable size, 268 mm. Amongst the hundreds of specimens which have previously been 

 reported from Scandinavia, none -- as already mentioned — exceeded 196 mm. in length, but they 

 came from much more southerly regions (especially the Skager Rak). In the fjords of East Finmark, where 

 the conditions are half arctic, the species can thus attain almost as great a size as at Iceland; in the 

 number of fin-rays also this specimen approaches to the variety htgztbris, as the pectoral tins have 

 19 rays, the dorsal fin 101, and the anal|8g. 



') Cf. Appendix this page. 



-) Beretning IX Era den biologiske Station, 1x17—32; Fiskeri-Beretning for Finausaarel 



3) This belongs to the Natural History Society at Reykjavik and was kindly lent me by my friend, Adjunkt B. 



Ssmuiidsson. 



