GRENADIER-FISHES. 
589 
about as long as the last ray of the first dorsal fin, 
and at the middle of the tin the length of the rays is 
about 2 / 3 of the longitudinal diameter of the orbits; 
from this point the height of this tin too decreases. 
All the rays are articulated, and all, except the first 
rays, in the anal tin as well as in the second dorsal 
tin are bifid at the tip; all may be easily parted into 
their two lateral halves. 
The pectoral tins are situated somewhat in front 
of (according to Sundevall, vertically below) the be- 
ginning of the first dorsal tin. They are obliquely 
pointed, and their length is somewhat greater than the 
height of the first dorsal fin. The first ray is thick, 
but articulated and simple or imperfectly branched at 
the tip". The third and fourth rays are equal in length 
and the longest in the fin''. 
The ventral fins are about 2 / 3 as long as the pec- 
toral, the first ray, simple but articulated, being elong- 
ated to a hairlike tip. Among the branched rays the 
4th, 5th, and 6th are equal in length and the longest, 
thus giving this part of the fins a rounded form. 
The scales cover the whole body, except the under 
surface of the head, the branchiostegal membranes, and 
the fins. On the head the lateral carinse of the snout 
and cheeks also mark the boundary of the scales: though 
scattered scales may be found below the hind part of 
the suborbital carina. The scales on different parts of 
the body vary both in size and in form; and they are 
armed in various ways not only on different parts of 
the body, but also in different individuals. The smallest 
scales are set on the head, where they are more firmly 
attached to the subjacent bones, especially on the longi- 
tudinal carime. In form the scales are quadrangular, 
rounded (almost circular), or hexagonal. The anterior 
(inserted) part of each scale is smooth, the outer part 
is furnished with a high and dentated, longitudinal 
carina at the middle and, in most cases, with several 
(3 — 5 above and below) small carime, radiating in a 
backward direction and sometimes dentated like the 
middle carina. The texture of the scale shows nume- 
rous, dense and undulating, concentric strias, but no 
radiating ones. The lateral line does not pierce any 
scales; but its opening pores lie on the outside of a 
row of scales in which, in most cases, the middle ca- 
rina of the scale is divided (double). In other cases 
the pore lies below the simple middle carina. 
The body is of a grayish silvery or tin colour; 
the fins are brownish black. The cavity of the mouth, 
the branchial cavity, and the peritoneum are black. 
Macrurus Fabricii is by no means a rare fish off 
the south of Greenland and occurs along the east coast 
of North America at least as far south as the neigh- 
bourhood of Cape Cod. So early a writer as Egede 
describes it as “like a Torsk, but with sharp prickles 
and spines over the whole skin, and with a narrow 
tail or hind part. They are both large and small. The 
Esquimaux say that they are of good flavour.” Cranz 
mentions a “species of fish that has a large head and 
eyes 0 like an owl, and which the Esquimaux call Ing- 
minniset , because it bellows'* when dying.” On the coast 
of Norwegian Fin mark, north of Tromso, the species 
has been taken occasionally in recent times on long- 
lines, at depths varying between 100 and 300 fathoms. 
It was unknown there, however, until fifty years ago 
(1839), when Professor S. Loven brought home to the 
Royal Museum a specimen, which has been described 
by Sundevall, from Hammerfest. 
The food is probably composed chiefly of small 
fishes, e. g. the Capelin, and crustaceans, even those 
with hard shells, to judge by the strength and form 
of the pharyngeal teeth. But in this case, as in the 
case of other deep-sea fishes, the stomach is generally 
turned inside out when the fish is drawn up to the 
surface, so that it has been impossible to ascertain its 
contents. The fish takes a bait freely, and is a nuis- 
ance, says Brown-Goode, to the American fisherman, 
who hauls in his line in the hope of a better catch 
than an Onion-fish. 
The spawning-season of Macrurus Fabricii occurs 
on the coast of Finmark at the end of winter or 
soon afterwards, for in May Collett has met with 
at least two females full of roe. In Greenland Fabri- 
cius found that the ovaries of the females were ex- 
tremely small in the month of May, and he therefore 
assumed that at this season they had generally finished 
spawning. 
“ On the other hand, it parts easily into its two lateral halves. 
6 Gunther remarks a difference between the Norwegian and American forms of this species, consisting, according to his specimens, 
in the much shorter pectoral fins of the former. In one of our specimens (stuffed) from Finmark, however, the length of the pectoral fins 
is 54 % of that of the head. 
e On account of the eyes the American fishermen of the present day call this species Onion-fish. 
d When the air-bladder bursts (?) 
