592 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
In this species the scales extend over the whole of 
the head, even below the suborbital ring, on the branches 
of the lower jaw, and in a large patch on the space 
between the branches of the lower jaw ( nientum ); only 
the branchiostegal membrane and the isthmus are as 
usual bare. The scales" are of essentially the same form 
as in the preceding species, but show no longitudinal 
carime or curves, and are densely covered throughout 
their free surface with short spines, which are arranged 
in a quincunx of oblique, curved rows. These spines 
give the surface of the body a velvety appearance. The 
lateral line does not pierce any scales in this species 
either, its opening pores lying in the form of grooves 
without spines on each scale. 
Among the internal organs the liver and the pyloric 
appendages are especially remarkable for their advanced 
development. The abdominal cavity, with the peritoneum 
coloured black in front and chocolate behind, extends to 
a line with about the ninth ray of the anal fin, and 
the liver extends equally far back on the left side. 
The ovary is simple and triangular, with the oviduct in 
the lower, blunt corner. 
The body is plain grayish violet shading into yel- 
low. The tins are of a dark brownish violet, with a 
dash of the blue tinge of dew. The iris is whitish 
yellow, shading into silver and rose-pink. The mouth, 
the pharynx, and the branchial cavity are black. 
Macrurus rupestris, which attains a length of at least 
a metre, has been found not so very seldom — for a deep- 
sea fish — on the south coast of Norway, up to Helgo- 
land, at depths between 150 and 500 fathoms. Accord- 
ing to Storm it is taken very often on long-lines in 
Trondhjem Fjord, even at the very head of the fjord, 
but seldom in less than 150 fathoms of water. In a 
single day in 1880, according to Collett, 20 specimens 
of this species were caught oft’ Bjornor (in the south 
of the Government of Trondhjem, lat. 64° 10 N.). Off 
the extreme south of Norway, young specimens between 
10 and 12 cm. long were taken off Arendal during the 
expedition of the Swedish gunboat Gunhild in July, 1879, 
at a depth of 335 — 370 fathoms and on a bottom of fine, 
brown clay. It is thus quite at home in these regions. 
It also penetrates into Christiania Fjord, at least to the 
latitude of Horten. On the coast of Bohuslan it was 
first found by Fries, who has left in the Royal Museum 
“ See Iyr0YEr’s plate in Gaimard’s voyage. 
b Rink, Gronland , Bd. 2, Naturh. Tiling, p. 25. 
c Arctic Manual and Instructions , 1875, p. 120. 
a specimen 78 cm. long, taken in May, 1838. Malm 
found a stuffed specimen in Uddevalla Museum that had 
been purchased in the fishmarket there in March, 1872. 
In recent years Mr. C. A. Hansson has forwarded to the 
Royal Museum two specimens. The first, which has 
been about 83 cm. long, but is now broken off short 
46 cm. from the snout (the caudal part is lost), was 
found floating dead at the surface, between the Foster 
and Weather Islands, on the 20th of June, 1882. The 
second specimen, the original of our figure, is a female 
885 mm. long, and was taken on a long-line in about 
80 fathoms of water, off Svangen in South Ramso Fjord, 
twelve miles south-west of Stromstad, on the 5th of 
November, 1889. In March, 1877, according to Wintiier, 
two specimens were cast ashore near the Skaw and 
forwarded to Copenhagen Museum. This is all that is 
known of the occurrence of the species in the Skager Rack. 
In the Cattegat (south of the line from the Skaw to Mar- 
strand) it has not yet been found. To the west, according 
to Gunther, it has been met with by the English Por- 
cupine and Knight Errant expeditions in 200 — 500 fa- 
thoms of water between the Shetland and Faroe Islands. 
In 1880, during the Blake expedition, according to 
Brown-Goode and Bean, A. Agassiz obtained a specimen 
804 mm. long, at a depth of 524 fathoms, in lat. 41°33' N. 
and long. 65° 55' W. It is included among the fishes 
of Greenland by the younger Reinhardt 6 and LutkenS 
Macrurus rupestris in all probability leads the same 
life as other deep-sea fishes, though it seems not to be 
of so pronounced character as our other Macruri , for, 
as we have mentioned above, it has been taken in 80 
fathoms of water. Its food seems to be composed chiefly 
of crustaceans: Decapods, at least as large as shrimps, 
and Hyperioids have been found in its stomach. The 
spawning-season seems to occur in winter, perhaps even 
in autumn. On the 12th of November Collett met 
with a gravid female off Langesund. The female secured 
by Mr. C. A. Hansson from Svangen and the original 
of our figure had eggs 1 millimetre in diameter in its 
ovary on the 5th of November; and as, according to 
Collett, the diameter of the ripe eggs is 2 millimetres, 
it had still some time to wait before depositing its 
spawn. According to Collett the number of the ripe 
eggs when the roe is deposited is about 12,000 or hardly 
more than that number. 
