^'AAGMAER. 15 



The specimen of the Vaagmaer, from wliich the drawing 

 and description were taken, was during the summer of 1828 

 thrown up alive on the beach near Thorshavn in Iceland, and 

 was procured by Mr. Moller for the Royal Museum of 

 Natural History. Fortunately, a ship at the time was ready 

 to sail for Copenhagen, by which the fish, preserved in spi- 

 rits, was forwarded. It arrived in about ten days, and in 

 such beautiful condition that the brilliant red colour of the 

 fins had not faded, nor had the membrane connecting the 

 fin-rays been torn ; only the anterior dorsal and the ventral 

 fins were injured, so as to leave but short roots ; the con- 

 tinuation of which is therefore indicated by fine lines. 



A previous account of this, as well as of another less per- 

 fect specimen, found thrown on shore near Frederikshavn in 

 Jutland, was laid before the Royal Society of Copenhagen 

 in the winter of 1829. As I have not been able to procure 

 a better specimen, and a useful delineation of this fish is 

 wanted, while we, through the figures given by M, Valen- 

 ciennes, are enabled to compare several species from the Me- 

 diterranean, I have thought it right to supply this deficiency 

 by having an engraving made under my own superintendence 

 of the Icelandic Vaagmaer, to the description of which the 

 following paper is devoted. 



The result of the account of the two specimens above 

 mentioned, as communicated in 1829 to the Royal Society, 

 was, that the Northern Vaagmaer, contrary to the opinion 

 of its former describers, is indeed provided with ventral fins, 

 by which its generic relation to those of the Mediterranean 

 has been decided, as well as its systematic rank : while a 

 comparison with one of the Mediterranean species preserved 

 in the Museum, established its specific difference. 



M. Valenciennes, in his excellent account of the genus 

 Trachypterus in his tenth volume, has added a few remarks 

 to the previous history. Although the specimen he examined 



