290 NEW- YORK FAUNA. 



Color. Uniform dark slate. (In large individuals, body brown above, with yellowish sides ; 

 abdomen white, and yellow ventrals.) The dorsal, anal and caudal dusky, margined with 

 blue and edged with white. 



Length, 25-0. 



Fin rays, D. 96 ; P. 23 ; V. 5 ; A. 73 ; C. 35. 



There are apparently two American species described under the name of Cusk, and both, 

 we ap^ ehend, confounded with the vulgaris of Europe. We have seen neither, and can 

 therefore only judge by the descriptions of preceding writers. . The European Tusk has a 

 broad furrow from the nape to the dorsal fin. According to Bonnaterre, it is deep brown above, 

 with some transverse spots on the sides. It has forty-nine dorsal and thirty-seven anal rays. 

 The Cusk of Storer is uniform dark slate, and has ninety-six dorsal and seventy-three anal 

 rays. He mentions a specimen weighing twenty pounds, which was brown above, with yel- 

 lowish s'des and white abdomen. Dr. Smith mentions a Cusk of Massachusetts, which 

 is greyish, mottled with brown spots in warm seasons, but nearly black in winter, and 

 with a broad and spotted lateral line. The meagre indications of Lesueur are as follows : 

 " Color yellow, with the dorsal, pectoral ? and anal edged with black and white ; lateral hne 

 " arched above the pectorals ; eye large and obli(jue ; the lower jaw with two barbels." No 

 mention is made of the dorsal or anal rays. We look confidently to Dr. Storer to eliminate 

 these different species. The figure referred to above is from the European species, and is 

 L-nly introduced to illustrate the typical form of the genus. 



