8o LYConiN-H. 



Lycodes with respect to the development of the scaly covering, but such a sudden jump as Liitken 

 here makes possible, would be quite singular. 



Again, the 27 specimens in comparison with the 28th belong to a relatively small-eyed form, 

 the longitudinal diameter of the eye (in specimens of over 100 mm.'s length) amounting to only 3,4 — 

 of the total length; in the two largest specimens (185 — 186 mm.) the horizontal diameter of the 

 ey< i> thus 3 2,7' of the total length, but in the 223 mm. long specimen 3,6",, of the total length, 

 although in consequence of its greater size it should have had relatively still smaller eyes than the 

 two named, if we had to do with the same species. 



Further, the number of rays in the pectorals shows a very considerable difference: the 27 

 specimens have only 16--17 rays, whereas the 28th has 19. Liitken indeed, has remarked this 

 difference, but he endeavoured to explain it away by supposing that the number undergoes some 

 increase with age . 



Although the colouration may seem quite similar 011 a cursory view, when rightly seen 

 there is the difference that the 27 specimens have more numerous dark cross-bauds, namely 9 — 12 (cf. 

 Liitken 1. c. Tab. XVI, fig. 2— 6), whilst the 28th has only 8 (ibid. fig. 1). 



From all these important differences I drew the conclusion that the 223 mm. long specimen 

 must be specifieallv distinct from the others, and I was successful later in identifying it with L. rossi 

 Malmgr. (cf. p. 56). 



The remaining 27 specimens seemed to me to belong to a form which retained its naked 

 condition throughout its whole life; in my preliminary report (1. c.) I gave it the name Lycodes 

 agnostus. 



Later I gained a welcome confirmation that I had judged rightly, as I found a specimen in 

 the Stockholm Riks-Museum, which in all respects agreed with tire form from the Kara Sea, also in 

 that it was perfectly naked even though its total length was still greater than that of the 

 specimens in my hands. F. A. Smitt in his great work on the Scandinavian Fishes gives a figure 

 of it (fig. 1471 under the name L. reticitlatus , Tumerii . and in his later treatise ( hi the genus 

 Lycodes |1. c. 1901) he has mentioned it under the name L. reticulatus forma scnriwida . Its most 

 important proportions are as follows: 



Total length 233 mm. 



Length of the head 56,5 - 



Distance from snout to anus 117 — 



Height over the anus 22,5 — 



In proportions of the total length, the length of the head is thus 24,3",,, the distance between 

 the snout' and the anus 50,2%, and the height over the anus 9,7",,. The eyes are small, their 

 longitudinal diameter being only 2,7% of the total length. The body, as already mentioned, is quite 

 free of scales. The lateral line is mediolateral. The colouration has now disappeared so that I cannot 

 decide if the figure in Smitt has struck the right proportion between the light and dark bauds. 

 The pectorals contain 16 rays, the dorsal fin ca. 90 and the anal ca. 70 rays, 



The specimen, which is a male with well-developed testes (33 mm. long), was taken on the 

 24th nf August [878 by the Vega Expedition on the east side of the Taimur peninsula, namely in 



