916 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
or, if these are present, they are faint or at least scat- 
tered, while on the anterior (inserted) part of the scale 
they are all the more numerous. Radiating grooves 
there are none; but the anterior margin of the scale 
in particular is often sinuate. The nucleus of some 
scales, for example on the forepart of the back and of 
the belly, is so large as to occupy the greater part of 
the scale, with only a comparatively small number (20 
— 30) of concentric striae in front of, above, and below 
it. But in other cases, for example in the large scales 
on the sides just below the lateral line (fig. 229, c), 
the nucleus is all the more reduced, so that about 80 
or 90 concentric striae may be counted, about each 8th 
— 10th one coarser than the rest, on the inserted part 
of the scale. Most of the scales are irregularly round, 
of a rounded quadrangular or broadly elliptical shape, 
with the longitudinal axis set vertically; and in these 
cases the anterior margin as well is arcuate, or elong- 
ated in an angular form at the middle. Where they 
cover any of the longitudinal ridges on the body, they 
are indented, as we have mentioned above, at the 
middle of the hind margin. This also applies to the 
scales of the lateral line (fig. 229, b). The large scales 
set in a row just below the lateral line, largest on the 
forepart of the body (fig. 229, c), are distinguished by 
their more rectangular shape, with straight anterior 
margin and with the anterior angles right angles. Along 
each side of the base of the dorsal fin lies a row 
of obliquely linguiform scales, with the exposed part 
obliquely triangular (fig. 229, a). We shall meet with 
similar scales in the following family, as well as a certain 
resemblance in the cucullate shape characteristic of the 
duct in the scales of the lateral line (fig. 229, b). 
The coloration of the body is determined by the 
horn-yellow tint of the scales; but the inner surface of 
their exposed (posterior) part is lined with a thin coat 
of silvery lustre, which gives to the sides of the body 
an iridescent gleam of silvery, golden, or brassy hue. 
The back is darker, brownish; the bellv “silvery white, 
with a reddish lustre” (Hansson). The adipose mem- 
brane on the head is yellowish, but under it the cheeks 
and opercula gleam with a silvery lustre. The fins share 
in the general coloration, being of a grayish yellow or 
paler (whitish, according to Kroyer). The adipose fin is 
yellow, but at the base of the same colour as the back. 
The abdominal cavity, and the pharynx forward to 
the root of the tongue, are black; but the black lining 
of the peritoneum has a silvery layer underneath. In all 
our specimens, however, the viscera are so greatly da- 
maged that we cannot describe them with any minuteness. 
The Greater Siil-Smelt belongs to the deep — though 
probably not to the deepest — parts of the North At- 
lantic. In company with the Norway Haddock ( Sebastes ) 
it lives off the Norwegian coast (Ascanius, Strom, and 
Nilsson) and off the east coast of North America (Sable- 
Island Bank off Nova Scotia, Brown-Goode and Bean) 
at a depth of about 80 — 200 or 300 fathoms. The deep 
fjords of Norway afford it a constant abode. In the 
Skager Rack it is occasionally found. Juke other deep- 
sea fishes it is sometimes suddenly carried in some way 
or other to depths where the pressure is inadequate to 
its requirements, and it is then borne helplessly to the 
surface, where it drifts about, unable to regain its home. 
Under these circumstances it has been cast ashore on 
the west coast of Jutland. It has most frequently been 
met with in the neighbourhood of Bergen; but its range 
extends, according to Collett, from the entrance of 
Christiania Fjord along the whole coast to Tromso. 
According to Storm it is not rare in Trondhjem Fjord, 
and has been found, especially in late years, at several 
places in the fjord, to the very head thereof. In the 
Skager Rack, off Dynekil, between the Foster and Tisler 
Islands, a specimen Avas caught on a long-line in No- 
vember, 1890, Avhieh was forwarded to the Royal Museum 
by Mr. C. A. Hansson, and which is represented in our 
figure. From the SkaAv to the extreme south of the 
west coast of Jutland three specimens have been found, 
according to Wintiiee and Petersen, since 1871. The 
species consequently seems to have the southern limit 
of its range here in the deeper, northern part of the 
North Sea, for farther south it has never been met Avith. 
Of the Greater Siil-Smelt’s habits we know no more 
than of the life led by most deep-sea fishes. As a rule 
the stomach is forced into the pharynx Avhen the fish is 
secured, so that nothing can be ascertained as to its food 
from the contents of the stomach. But to judge by its 
mouth, Avhieh calls to mind the Grayling, its dentition, 
Avhieh is somewhat more poAverful than the Graylings’s, 
and its fairly coarse gill-rakers, its predatory habits are as 
marked as those of the said species, and we know that it 
takes a hook baited with mussels ( Mytilus , according to 
Nilsson) or a bit of fish (Herring, according to Olsson). 
It is fat, and its flesh is said to lie of good flavour. Some- 
times a score or so are exposed for sale in the fish- 
market at Bergen; but else it is taken far too seldom 
to be of any economical importance to the fisherman. 
