2538 Bulletin 4.7, United States National Museum. 



all slender and curved backward, those in upper jaw in several irregular 

 rows, the outer row regular and with slightly larger teeth ; teeth in lower 

 jaw in a single row except in front where they are in a double row ; teeth 

 on vomer few and about the size of the smaller teeth in the upper jaw ; gill 

 rakers moderate, the longest not quite equal to diameter of pupil; caudal 

 peduncle compressed, its depth equal to diameter of eye; vent under front 

 of second dorsal ; pectoral fin not reaching vent, its length If times in 

 head; ventrals reaching halfway to vent, the second ray moderately 

 produced; first dorsal highest; distance between second and third dor- 

 sals twice distance between first and second; caudal fin very slightly con- 

 cave; third ray of second dorsal midway between tip of snout and base of 

 middle caudal rays. Color somewhat mottled, grayish brown above, 

 light silvery below; the 3 dorsals and caudal dusky and edged with 

 white ; pectorals uniform dusky ; ventrals but slightly dusted with black ; 

 anal with a few punctulations at their anterior ends ; peritoneum pale. 

 Arctic shores of Asia and North America, south to Bering Sea, locally 

 abundant. It reaches the length of about a foot. Here described (by 

 Norman B. Scofield) from numerous specimens, the largest 11 inches long, 

 taken at Port Clarence by Scofield and Scale, and at Petropaulski by the 

 Albatross (Fur Seal Invest, of 1896). The range of the fin rays is D. 12 to 

 1518 to 2118 to 21 ; A. 20 to 2320 to 23. Mr. Scofield has prepared 

 a skeleton of this species for comparison with that of Microgradus proximus 

 from San Francisco. There is very little difference in the skulls. There, 

 is no difference in the neural spines of the vertebrae. The transverse 

 processes of the vertebrae in Microgadus proximus are flattened and plate- 

 like, while in Eleginus naraga they are club-shaped, narrow at base where 

 they leave the centrum, but expanding into a rounded hollow bulb at the 

 distal end. This character defines the genus Eleginus. (navaga, a Russian 

 name.) 



Gadus navaga, KOLREUTER, Nov. Comm. Ac. Petrop., xrv, 1770, 484, pi. 12, coast of north- 

 ern Russia ; PALLAS, Zoogr. Rosso- Asiat., in, 196, 1811. 



Gadus gracilis, TILESIUS, M6m. Ac. Imp. Petersb., II, 1810, 354, Kamchatka ; JORDAN & 

 GILBERT, Synopsis, 804, 1883. 



Gadus wachna, PALLAS, Zoogr. Eosso- Asiat., m, 182, 1811, Kamchatka. 



Tilesia gracilis, SWAINSON, Nat. Hist. Fish., n, 300,1839; BBAN, Proc.U.S. Nat. Mus. 1881, 

 243. 



Pleurogadus graeilis, BEAN, in JORDAN, Cat. Fish. N. A., 130, 1885. 



Eleginus navaga, GILL, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1890, 303. 



980. MICROGADUS, Gill. 



(TOMCODS.) 

 Microgadus, GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1865, 69 (proximus). 



Very small codfishes allied to Gadus, but with the vent placed before 

 the second dorsal and with a different structure of the cranium. The 

 following is Professor Gill's account of the skull of Microgadus proximus, 

 the italicised portions indicating the differences from Gadus: 



The cranium is proportionally broader toAvard the front and less flat- 

 tened, while the brain case is flattened below, decidedly swollen on each 



