870 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
327, tab. XXV, fig. 4; Gthr, Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. 
VI, p. 167. 
Eperlanus vulgaris, Gaim., Voy. Isl., Groenl., tab. 18, fig. 2. 
In the largest Swedish lake, Wener, the Smelt 
frequently attains a length of a foot or about 3 dm." 
to the extreme tip of the caudal tin. In Lake Malar 
too it is frequently of a fair size, about 27 cm. in 
length * 6 ; but in the smaller lakes it seldom exceeds a 
length of 10 — 20 cm. As we have mentioned above, 
the Scandinavian fishermen distinguish by size and 
odour between two kinds of Smelt, calling the larger 
kind slom. The line between these two kinds is drawn 
at a length of about 2 dm. According to Nokback 
the Smelt 
at a length of about 6 cm. weighs about 13 — 17 grammes, 
„ „ „ „ „ 9—12 „ „ „ 34-43 
„ „ „ „ „ 18-20 „ „ „ 85 — 127 
„ „ j, „ 30 „ „ ,, 300 „ 
Pennant’s largest specimen teas 33 cm. long and weighed 
227 grammes c . 
The body is rather elongated and of a compressed, 
fusiform shape, the upper and lower contours being 
slightly and similarly arched. According to the ripeness 
or emptiness of the sexual organs the greatest depth of 
the body, which is situated at the beginning of the 
dorsal fin, varies between 14 and 18 % of the length 
of the body. The greatest thickness, which lies nearer 
to the back than to the belly, and is fairly uniform 
from the opercular region to the dorsal fin, varies be- 
tween 8 1 / 2 and 11 % of the length of the body or 
between 48 and 70 % of the greatest depth. The least 
depth of the body (of the peduncle of the tail) varies 
between 6 (or a little more) and 4 l j 2 % of the length. 
The form of the body is thus subject to considerable 
variations, and is as a rule deeper in the females than 
in the males' 2 . The back, including the forehead, is 
broadly rounded, as well as the belly, which at the 
ventral fins even approaches to flatness. 
The head resembles a compressed cone, the point 
being formed by the tip of the lower jaw; and its 
length from the articular knob of the maxillaries e is 
somewhat less than 1 j i (21 — 24 %) of the length of the 
body. The convex snout resembles an obliquely cut- 
cone, and consequently the sharp margin of the upper 
jaw forms an ellipse. Its length is about 26 — 30 % of 
that of the head 7 , the percentage rising with fair uni- 
formity during growth, and its breadth across the 
articulation of the maxillaries is only slightly less. 
The longitudinal diameter of the eyes is somewhat- 
greater than the vertical, measuring in young Smelts 
about 1 / i , in old about 1 / 6 , of the length of the head, 
or in the former nearly 2 / 5 , in the latter about V 4 , of 
the length of the head reduced (from the articular knob 
of the maxillaries to the hind margin of the preoper- 
culum). In the former their longitudinal diameter 
sometimes is more than 1 / i greater than their distance 
from the articular knob of the maxillaries, in the latter 
it sometimes sinks to 3 / 4 of this distance. The least 
breadth of the interorbital space increases even rela- 
tively with age from about 22 to about 28 % of the 
length of the head, or from about 1 / 3 t-o 2 / 5 of the 
length of the head reduced. The nasal cavities lie just 
behind the articular knob of the maxillaries, the di- 
stance from the middle of the tip of the snout- to the 
front margin of the anterior nostril being, however, 
nearly twice that- from the hind margin of the posterior 
nostril to the front margin of the eye. The two nostrils 
on each side of the snout are small, the posterior 
somewhat larger than the anterior, but usually covered 
to a great extent by the backward dermal fold con- 
taining the thin ridge that- divides the nostrils. The 
intermaxillary bones are about equal in length to the 
eyes; and the length of the maxillaries, which increases 
even relatively with age, varies between about- 9 (8’/ 2 ) 
and 11 % of that of the body, between 42 (40 V 2 ) and 
50 % of that of the head, or between 62 (60) and. 67 
% of that of the head reduced. The supplementary 
(jugal) bone of the maxillaries is behind lancet-shaped, 
in front elongated to a point. Its anterior part lies 
loose in the dermal fold uniting the maxillary bone to 
the cheek. The lower jaw is of a flat, boat-like shape, 
in front curved uniformly, but rather slightly upwards. 
“ Tenow gives even 4 dm. (See Ver inlands och Dais Ryggradsdjur , p. 108). 
6 Underd. Bet. m. Forsl. t. Fiskeristadga 1883, p. 158; Lilljeborg, 1. c., p. 631. 
c Brit. Zool. (London 1776), p. 274. 
d In Osmerus dentex and O. spirinchus the sexual difference seems to be reversed. Cf. Smitt, 1. c., p. 176. 
e For the sake of uniformity in a comparison with Coregonus we have measured the length of the body etc., here as in Riksmuseets 
Salmonider (1. c.), from the articular knob of the maxillaries, and not from the middle of the tip of the snout. 
f In Riksmuseets Salmonider the length of the snout in the Smelt is measured from the articular knob of the maxillaries, and there- 
fore less. 
