LY CODOIDS. 
617 
Anguilla kieneri, Gthr, Ann., Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. TV, vol. 
XIII, (1874), p. 139; Day ( Zoarces ), Proc. Zoo). Soc. Lend. 
1882, p. 536. 
Lycodes Sarsii would seem to be the smallest Scan- 
dinavian species of the genus, for the largest specimen 
among those found by Sars in Norway was only 62 
mm. long, and the specimen described by Gunther from 
the Porcupine Expedition measured 85 mm. As yet, 
however, it may be doubtful whether the species is 
really distinct from Lycodes Verrillii, which has been 
described by Brown-Goodk and Bean" from the deep 
water off Nova Scotia and New England, and which 
attains a length of at least 18 cm. According to Col- 
lett, however, the latter form is distinguished by the 
extension of the scaly covering over the lower part of 
the body as well, the collection of the spots into more 
regular transverse bands across the sides, the pointed 
tail, and the stronger teeth, peculiarities all of which, as 
we have seen in the preceding forms of the genus, may 
appear as differences dependent on age and sex. 
The slender, Anguilliform body distinguishes Ly- 
codes Sarsii from the preceding forms of the genus. 
The greatest depth of the body, just behind the head, 
is about 7 i 2 (8’4 — 8'1 %), and its depth at the begin- 
ning of the anal tin 1 / 15 or Vie (about 6’/ 2 0/o ) of its 
length. Its breadth in front is equal to, behind only 
slightly less than its depth, the terete shape being dis- 
tinctly persistent back to the hindmost part of the tail. 
The length of the head is about l / 6 (16 or 17 %) of 
that of the body. It is of a rounded quadrilateral, pa- 
rallelopiped form, reminding us of the head of the 
common snake, with comparatively short and roundish 
snout. In a specimen 62 mm. long the length of the 
eye is 3 / 10 , and that of the postorbital part a little 
more than 1 / 2 of the length of the head. The large 
muciferous cavities along the upper and lower jaws — 
the row of the latter being continued back to the inferior 
corner of the preoperculum — suggest that in this spe- 
cimen the characters of youth have been persistent, 
fhe beginning of the dorsal fin lies at the end of the 
first quarter of the body, that of the anal fin just in 
front of the end of its first third, the length of the tail 
thus measuring not quite 70 % of that of the body. 
The length of the pectoral fins is about equal to the 
postorbital length of the head: these fins are blackish 
brown at the upper margin. The ventral fins are co- 
nical and of about the same length as the eye. They are 
set in front of the line between the lower angles of the 
gill-openings. Without dissection it is difficult to de- 
termine the number of their rays; but they seem to 
contain at least three rays each. 
Lycodes Sarsii was discovered in 1869 by Prof. 
G. 0. Sars, and was described in 1871 by Collett 
from a young specimen 43 mm. long, taken at a depth 
of between 100 and 150 fathoms in Hardanger Fjord. 
In 1882 Sars again met with the species during his 
dredging operations at a depth of between 80 and 200 
fathoms off Beian outside Trondhjem Fjord, where he 
took three specimens between 57 and 62 mm. long. 
During the Porcupine Expedition of 1869 Wyville- 
Thompson took a specimen 85 mm. long “in the North 
Atlantic at a depth of 1 80 fathoms.” Whether it is 
identical in species with Lycodes Verrillii, a form quite 
common, according to Brown-Goode and Bean, on 
the east coast of North America, may still remain an 
open question. In any case it is up to the present 
one of the rarest forms in the Scandinavian fauna. 
LYCODES ML ILEX A. 
Fig. 152. 
Body plain grayish brown. Scales scattered and irregularly distributed, but extending , when complete , over the 
whole body except the head and’ fins. Depth of the body at the beginning of the anal fin about 4 % of its own 
length. Tail pointed. Length of the head less than 21 % {IT /, — 16 %) of that of the tail from the beginning 
of the anal fin to the tip of the last fin-rays. 
R. br. 5; D. 101 — 118; A. 87—103; P. 13—17; V. 3 (?). 
Syn. Lycodes murcena, Coll., Forh. Vid. Selsk. Christ. 1878, No. 4, 
p. 15 et No. 14, p. 74; N. Nordli. Eecped., Zool., Fiske, 
p. 116, tab. IV, ligg. 29 — 31; Lillj., Sv., Norg. Fisk., vol. 
II, p. 25; Gthr, Deep Sea Fish., Cballeng. Exped., part. 
LVII (Zool., vol. XXII), p. 79, tab. XII, fig. A. 
This species is still more elongated than the pre- 
ceding one, the caudal part being prolonged to such 
Amer. Journ. Sc., Arts, vol. XVI (1877) p. 474; Bull. Ess. Inst., vol. XI (1879) p. 9; Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 3 (1880), p. 477. 
