of ilie Fishes of the Family Lopliiidge. 2S3 



anterior part of the tongue is white with a network of black 

 lines, which increase in thickness during growth, the adult 

 having pale spots on a dark ground-colour, 



LOPHIUS, Linn. 



Teeth in the lower jaw in 3 series anteriorly, in 2 pos- 

 teriorly j opercular membrane without free posterior margin ; 

 gill-openings wide, below the pectorals and extending beyond 

 them posteriorly; pectorals broad, with 23-29 rays, their 

 bases can be received within the gill-openings. Dorsal with 

 YI, 8-12 rays, anal with 8-11, the last ray of each not 

 cleft. Vertebrae 27-32 (? 25-35). 



There are certainly four species of this genus, viz., L.pisca- 

 torius, Linn., L. lituJon, Jordan, L. Budegassa, Spinola, and 

 L. VaiUanti, sp. n., and perhaps a fifth, viz. L. vomerinus^ 

 Cuv. & Val. In all^ as in Lophiomus, there are a pair of 

 divergent spines on the palatines, and the supraorbital ridge 

 is short and produced into two spines, thus differing from the 

 three species of Chirolophius described above, which have 

 three spines on the palatine and an elevated and dentated 

 supraorbital ridge, 



Lophius piscaton'us, Linn, 



Length of head 2 (young) -21 times in the total length, 

 without caudal. Skeleton fairly well ossified, tissues firm. 

 Humeral spine stout, usually with three points (in one 

 specimen one spine, in another both have two points only), 

 short, its length 5^-8 times in the distance from its base to 

 the anterior end of the premaxillaries ; eye diameter 7-10 

 times in this distance; interorbital width 3-d^ times; length 

 of snout 2;^ times. Spines on the head stout, rather blunt.^ 

 Teeth strong, conical, about 8-1 1 in the posterior series of 

 fixed teeth on the premaxillaries, 1-3 on each side of the 

 vomer. D. VI, 11-12 ; A. 10-11 ; P. 25-28. The rays of 

 the spinous dorsal are rather stout, the first ends in a flap 

 which may be simple or bifid ; in one very large specimen 

 the flap is simple, broad, and has its posterior surface entirely 

 white ; the second ray is nearly as long as the first. The 

 distance from the tip of the last ray of the soft dorsal, when 

 laid back, to the base of the caudal is not much more than 

 the depth of the caudal peduncle. 



Dark brownish slate-colour above, somewhat sharply 

 separated from the white of the lower half of the body. 

 Pectorals blackish above, below white, with a sharply defined 

 black border. Ventrals white, blackish in young specimens. 



