618 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
an extent that the distance between the anal fin and 
the tip of the snont is only about 28 % of the length 
of the body. The form of the body is otherwise the 
same, almost terete throughout, evenly tapering back 
from the occiput, and with no distinct lateral compres- 
sion before the end of the tail. According to Collett, 
the depth at the beginning of the dorsal fin is i l / 2 — 
5 %, and at the beginning of the anal fin 3 — 4 % of 
the length of the body. The head is more depressed 
and broader, with longer snout, than in the preceding 
species: its length is 14 — 12 % of that, of the body. 
Half of its length is occupied by the postorbital part; 
and in a specimen 2 dm. long the eye occupies 1 / 5 (in 
younger specimens nearly 7 4 ) of the length of the head. 
to that of the eye. The same remark applies to the 
number of their rays as in the preceding species. 
Sometimes, according to Collett, we may trace two 
lateral lines, one ventral and one median, though the 
pores in the latter are rather scattered. 
Of Lycodes murcena as of L. Sarsii only four spe- 
cimens are yet known in the North, and only one of 
these can lay claim to a place within the Scandinavian 
fauna. This specimen was found by the Norwegian 
Arctic Expedition in June, 1877, at a depth of 350 
fathoms off Helgeland. In 1878 the same expedition 
took two specimens in 459 fathoms of water, west 
of the northern part of Spitsbergen, and one spe- 
cimen in 658 fathoms, west of Bear Island. In Faroe 
Fig. 152. Lycodes murcena , natural size, from the Norwegian Arctic Expedition. The property of the Museum of Christiania University. 
Even in specimens 2 dm. long the muciferous cavities 
along the jaws and the lower margin of the preoper- 
culum are as distinct as in the preceding species. The 
dorsal fin begins further forward than in the preceding 
species, the distance between it and the tip of the snout- 
being at most about 1 / 5 (less than 21 %) of the length 
of the body or 3 / i (in the preceding species at least 4 / 5 ) 
of the distance between the anal fin and the tip of the 
snout, which distance here measures about 26 — 28 % a 
of the length of the body. The pectoral fins are ob- 
tusely rounded, and their length is about 9 — 87 3 % of 
that of the body. The ventral fins are of the same 
form and position as in the preceding species, and their 
length too, in a specimen 2 dm. long, is about equal 
Channel, however, the English Knigld-Errant Expe- 
dition of 1882 took several examples of this spe- 
cies at depths of between 540 and 608 fathoms. Lyco- 
des murcena thus seems to be one of those Arctic species 
which in deep water have a range extending to the 
south through the cold layers of the ocean. Its manner 
of life is otherwise unknown, but in all probability 
resembles that of the other bottom-fishes, among which 
it passes its time resting on the cold clay or buried 
in its shelter. In the stomach Collett has found frag- 
ments of crustaceans ( Themisto and Nannoniscus). 
The largest specimens known measure nearly 23 
cm. (9 in.), according to Gunther. 
PHYSOCLYSTI PLECTOGNATHI. 
Physoclysts in which the intermaxillary hones are usually firmly united to the maxillaries, and in which the dental 
and articular parts of the lower jaiv are also more or 
their lamellce pectinated. No 
We now approach those groups among the Phy- 
soclysts that, each in its own manner, remind us in a 
higher degree than the fishes we have already examined, 
of the piscine types of primeval times, the Ganoids. 
' less perfectly confluent. Branchial arches complete , and 
externally visible interclavicles. 
One universal feature that strikes us in the following 
Physoclysts, is the marked ossification of the dermal 
system as opposed to the weaker ossification of the 
endoskeleton. Those parts of the endoskeleton that 
According to Gunther’s figure (1. c.) 30 % 
