Ichthyologiske notiser I. 79 
they seem to be new spines in development rather than the last 
traces of the large spines of B. borealis. A direct continuity 
from the præorbital spines of B. borealis to those of B. deca- 
dactylus seems moreover to be doubtful as the former are branched, 
the latter single. I shall add that in my opinion B. borealis 
probably has retained its juvenile characteristics viz. the strong 
spine-armourment longer than normally owing to the specimen 
having come when young to live under the somewhat altered 
conditions of northern latitudes. 
_ My specimen from the Sognefjord has D. IV + 16, A. IV 
+ 26. As will be seen from the table on p. 40 this number 
of fin-rays is very low in comparison to other specimens. In 
this respect it comes very close to B. splendens Lowe, which 
has D. IV + 13—15, A. IV + 26--29. SMITT (1892 p. 68) 
has hinted at the possibility of B. splendens being younger 
specimens of B. decadactylus. The supposition of SMITT that only 
young or haligrown individuals of B. splendens were known 
seems not to hold good as LOWE (1843) mentions a specimen 
measuring 58 cm. total length, though he states that large 
individuals are less common than in B. decadactylus. My 
specimen of 6. decadactylus from the Bay of Biscay, 320 mm. 
total length, is of about the same size as the specimen of 
B. splendens illustrated by GOODE & BEAN (1896 fig. 197) but 
has, as also is the case with my still younger specimen viz. the 
B. borealis, the same relative high body and short head as the 
fullgrown specimens of B. decadactylus, showing in this respect 
no advance on the more elongated B. splendens. 
Hippoglossus hippoglossus (L.). In this species the leit 
side is rarely the eyed side. I have seen a young specimen, 
430 mm., from Nordland (Dec. 1919). COLLETT (1903) mentions 
also only one case, likewise a young individual. 
Hippoglossoides platessoides (Fabr). Common in the North 
Sea, the Norwegian Channel and the outer fjords of southern 
Norway, but probably not exceeding depths of abt. 200 
—250 metres. Trawlings at greater depths in the fjords near 
Bergen are all resultless in respect of this species. Within the 
northern area of distribution of the species specimens have been 
captured as far down as 400 metres [Iceland, (SÆMUNDSSON), 
