68 Prof. M'Intosli's Notes from the 



gradation occurs*. The black pigment is most developed 

 ou tlic posterior surface of the tin, and is especially 

 conspicuous in the expanded portion. The fins are also 

 pigmented venti-ally, so that both surfaces are dark. In the 

 adolescent and adult the tips of these rays are long and 

 filiform, and in the former traces of the expansion forming 

 the blade and the pigment arc still visible, and to a less 

 extent in some adults, though the fin has altered its type, 

 being stouter at the base and filiform at the tip. In the one 

 case the fin is a balancing organ, whilst in the other it is 

 probably a tactile one. In the young these fins are as long 

 as in the curious Gadoid Bregmaceros. 



Stout, sharp, recurved teeth occur in the premaxillae, 

 maxillse, and mandible. The premaxillje and maxillae have 

 an upward slope, and the mandible projects beyond. The 

 eye is proportionally large, and lias once and a half the 

 distance behind it that it has anteriorly. A small barbel 

 (much less than in Mote/la) lies in the anterior pit of the 

 mandible. 



The young stages of Phycis seem to be rare. IMr.Boulenger 

 informs me that the smallest specimen in the British 

 ^Museum is about 10 centimetres (nearly 4 inches). Risso 

 regarded certain young specimens as a distinct species 

 {Phycis Gmelini), and thought they led a solitary life in the 

 shallow water of the littoral zone, whereas the shoals of the 

 adults freqiieutcd deeper water with a soft bottom. Lutken t 

 alludes to what he considers the young of Phycis blennoides, 

 28 mm. long, and with ventrals measuring 12 mm., from the 

 neighbourhood of Messina. He is of opinion that Hypsiptera 

 argentea, Glinther J, 24 lines long, which the latter author 

 placed in the Scombridse, after Echeneis, is the larval form 

 of Phycis mediterranea from the open sea, and in this Emery 

 agreed with him. Mr. Boulenger, however, states that while 

 it is allied to Phycis it is quite a difi'crent form. It 

 has a greyish-green back, and the tins are transparent, no 

 mention being made of the coloration of the ventrals, which 

 have 3 or 4 rays, it may be because the pigment had 

 disappeared in the preparation. The ventrals, however, are 

 considerably shorter than in the ling or Phycis, so that 

 though allied and a Gadoid, it may not be PUycis, and with 



* In the * Scandinavian Fishes ' the third ray of these fins in P. hleji- 

 noides is stated to be the lon<rcst, the colour of the fin reddish with a 

 dash of yellow, while tlie free tips are white. 



t Videnskab. Medel. Xatuvhist. Foren. Kjobenhavn, 1881, p. 252. 



\ Cat. Fi.'-lies Brit. Mus. ii. p. o86 (I860). 



