THE DISCOBOLI. 23 



torals broad, rounded, fringed, not indented at the sides of the disk. Disk 

 little longer than wide, about the width of the head, or nearly three fourths 

 of the length of the latter. Skin thickly sown with small irregular sub- 

 conical tubercles, the sides of which are roughened with small conical pro- 

 tuberances. On older individuals larger longitudinally compressed tubercles 

 form a vertebral series from the nape over the first dorsal ; a series of three 

 others stands at each side of the space between the dorsals; a row of 

 larger ones extends from the supraorbital region along the flank to the 

 upper part of the tail ; a series, starting a little above the pectoral, passes 

 to the lower portion of the tail ; and a third lateral series reaches along 

 each edge of the lower surface from the side of the disk to the anal. The 

 fleshy ridge enveloping the first dorsal is subject to considerable variation ; 

 it usually continues forward on the nape, and becomes indefinite at the occi- 

 put. The following formula is given for British specimens: D. 4-6/10-11; 

 A. 9-10; P. 20-21 ; V. 6 ; C. 10-11. 



In alcohol the colors are brownish or olive to grayish, the tubercles 

 being darker. In life the tints vary from yellowish or greenish in the 

 young, to more or less brilliant red in the males, or bluish to dark brown 

 in females. Spots, blotches, cloudings, or other markings, are not infre- 

 quent. 



In March and April the Lumps are said to approach the shore for the 

 purpose of depositing the eggs. After these are laid, the female goes back 

 to deep water, leaving the male to guard the ova until hatched. More than 

 200,000 eggs have been counted in the ovaries of a single female. Soon 

 after hatching, it is stated, the young ones attach themselves to the male 

 by their disks, and he also retires to the depths, carrying the brood with 

 him. This statement of Johnston, 1838, is not confirmed by the observa- 

 tions of Prof. A. Agassiz, 1882, by whom the young were found close to 

 the shore, among the eel-grass, near low-water mark. A very close resem- 

 blance between the smallest Lumps and the Liparids is evidence favoring 

 a common ancestral form. Lump-fish are sometimes taken by hook and 

 line on the feeding grounds of the cod ; more often they are captured in 

 nets ; and occasionally they are thrown on the beaches by heavy storms. 

 Specimens have been reported of near twenty pounds in weight, measuring 

 twenty inches or more in length. They are eaten by natives of Greenland 

 and Iceland in times of scarcity of better fishes, but they seem to find no 

 place in the markets farther southward. Their food is that of the majority 



