586 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
Icon. Fn. Ital ., tom. Ill (Pesci), tab. 123, fig. 1; Gthr 
( Macrurus ), Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. IV, p. 392 ; Coll. 
Forb. Vid. Selsk. Chrnia 1874, Tillasgsh., p. 129; Mor., 
Hist. Nat. Poiss. Fr., tom. Ill, p. 278; Lillj., Sv., Norg. 
Fisk., vol. II, p. 253; Gthr, Deep Sea Fish., Chall. Exped., 
p. 128 . 
Macrurus atlanticus , Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1839, p. 
88; Gthr, Cat., 1. c., p. 392. 
This species is one of those in which the Macruroicl 
type appears in its most developed stage, a point which 
we observe principally in the structure and shape of 
the head. The species attains a length of 3 V 2 dm. 
The coloration, according to Risso, is grayish with a 
reddish violet lustre on the back, silvery with mother- 
of-pearl and golden lustre on the sides, bluish black 
or black on the belly. The ventral tins, the branchio- 
stegal membranes, the branchial cavities, the axil of 
the pectoral, and the margins of the vertical tins are 
also bluish black or black. The inside of the mouth 
and the tongue, on the other hand, are light (whitish 
yellow). The snout is transparent as if of cartilage. 
To the above diagnosis we shall add merely that 
the anterior nostril — the nostrils are set on each side 
close to each other, as in most of the members of this 
genus — is round, the posterior kidney-shaped, on ac- 
count of the semicircular dermal flap that overlaps it 
in front. 
Macrurus coelorhynchus really belongs to the Medi- 
terranean and the neighbouring part of the Atlantic ", 
living in from 200 to 300 fathoms of water. In May, 
according to Risso, the females repair to rocky shores 
to deposit their eggs, which number about 3,000. The 
adult specimens are said to feed on “worms and zoo- 
phytes.” The dentition tells us distinctly that they 
cannot live on large or hard-shelled animals, but that 
their food probably consists chiefly of worms and thin- 
shelled crustaceans. 
Only on one single occasion has this species been 
met with in Scandinavia. In February, 1842, the elder 
Saks found a specimen that had probably measured 
about 29 cm., in the stomach of a Cod that had been 
taken off Herlovaer, north of Bergen. This specimen 
was so well preserved — only the tip of the tail and 
a portion of the scales on one side of the body were 
wanting — that Collett justly concluded that the Cod 
must have devoured its victim only a short time before 
its own capture. 
“ Still, it comes extremely near — if it be not identical with — Macrurus caribbceus, which Brown-Goode and Bean have described 
(Proc. U. S: Nat. Mus., vol. VIII (1885), p. 594) from a depth of 210 fathoms in the north of the Gulf of Mexico, and which apparently 
differs from M. coelorhynchus chiefly in the somewhat smaller breadth of the interorbital space and the longer base of the first dorsal fin. 
