154 Mr. F. Day on the Bib and Poor- God. 



asking him to obtain for me some power-cod and bib of the same 

 size, so as to enable me to compare one with the other. Cir- 

 cumstances, however, have been unfavourable, and it was not 

 until January 5th that I received from Cornwall three speci- 

 mens, no. 1 being a bib, Gadus luscus, 7 inches long, and 

 nos. 2 and 3 being power- or poor-cods, each 8 inches in length, 

 the one being a male, the other a female, while in both the 

 generative organs were very fully developed. This last fact 

 was interesting as demonstrating that poor-cod may be of 

 either sex, while the size of the two forms likewise proved 

 that one 7 inches long may be a bib and others 8 inches long 

 maybe poor-cod, rendering it somewhat problematical that the 

 larger form could be the young or immature form of the smaller 

 specimen. This last, I may likewise add, was, except in size, 

 a distinct counterpart in colour and proportion of large 

 examples of the bib in my collection. 



As regards the formula of the fin-rays existing in these 

 three fishes, it must not be overlooked that in the Anacanthini 

 or spiiieless forms these are subject to considerable modifica- 

 tion ; but taking the numbers for what they are worth they 

 are as follows : — 



1. Bib, Gadus luscus .... D. 12 | 20 | 19. A. 31 ) 18 



2&3. Poor-cod, G.minutus D. 12-14 ) 23-25. A. 24-25 | 21-23 



Eyes. — In the bib the eye was one third the length of the 

 head, one diameter from the end of the snout ; while in the 

 poor-cod the eye was two thirds the length of the head 

 and two thirds of a diameter from the end of the snout, or 

 larger than in the bib. 



Vent. — In the bib this was beneath the anterior end of the 

 first dorsal fin, or a quarter of the entire length of the fish 

 from the front end of the lower jaw, whereas it was beneath 

 the hind end of the same fin in the poor-cod and one third of 

 the same distance as it was one fourth in the bib. 



Ftns. — In the bib the first anal commenced just behind the 

 vent and more forward than in the poor-cod, while the two anal 

 fins were connected together by a membrane in the bib, as if 

 the whole had belonged to one consecutive fin ; but in the 

 poor-cod they were two distinct fins with a short interspace be- 

 tween. The ventral fin was one fourth longer in the bib than in 

 the poor-cod, while their colours widely differed. Respecting 

 the number of the gill-rakers, on which some authors have 

 laid considerable stress in the classification of species, I found 

 in the outer branchial arch of these two forms as follows : — 

 Fourteen in the middle or ceratobranchial bone of the bib, and 

 eighteen in the same place in the poor-cod. 



