938 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
Scopelus Kroyerii, Malm, Forh. Skand. Naturf. M. Kbhvn 1860, 
p. 617; Vett., Vitt. Samli. Hand!. Gbg., H. 8 (1863), p. 
100; Gbgs, Boh. Fna , p. 534; Sundstrom, Fna Sveriges 
Ryggradsdj., p. 262 (descr. erron.). 
The Greater Scopelus, the larger Scandinavian 
species, attains a length of about 15 cm.® As the 
form of the Pearl-side reminds us of the Sprat, so the 
Greater Scopelus resembles an Anchovy with shortened 
snout. The body is rather elongated and compressed. 
The greatest depth, which occurs at the ventral fins, 
though the whole abdominal region is of fairly uni- 
form depth, measures about 1 / 5 (19 % in the only per- 
fect specimen we have been able to examine) of the 
length of the body, and the greatest thickness is about 
3 / 5 of the greatest depth. The dorsal contour descends 
forward from the beginning of the dorsal tin in a gra- 
dual curve to the tip of the snout; but the ventral 
contour is straighter in front. The caudal contours 
converge at equal angles and to such an extent that 
the least depth of the body (in front of the caudal 
tin) is about 7u (8‘9 %) of its length, or about i / 9 
(46'6 %) of its greatest depth. In front the dorsal 
margin is convex, the ventral rather flat; behind they 
are both about equally compressed, neither being sharp, 
however, in front of the spine-like supporting rays of 
the caudal fin. 
The head is middle-sized, its length being 74 of 
that of the body; but the greatest part thereof is oc- 
cupied by the temples (posterior cheeks) and opercula. 
The postorbital part measures about 63 — 66 % of the 
length of the head, and is of fairly uniform thickness, 
the sides being almost parallel, but slightly converging 
in a downward direction. The forehead is slightly 
convex, with a median carina between the anterior 
parts of the eyes and on the snout, the sides of which 
converge in front almost at a right angle. The eyes, 
the length of which is somewhat greater than their 
height, are of moderate size in proportion to the length 
of the body'', but large in proportion to that of the 
snout, which measures at most about 2 / 3 of their longi- 
tudinal diameter. There are, we may almost say, 
no true cheeks, only a thin and very Ioav suborbital 
ring separating the orbit from the upper jaw; but the 
lower margin of this ring is sharply marked both in 
front and (very sharply) behind, and entirely conceals 
the maxillary throughout the greater part of its length, 
when the mouth is closed. The orbital margin is also 
sharply defined and especially prominent above, where 
it rises at the anterior angle to the frontal plane. The 
slightly convex interorbital space is rather broad, though 
it becomes narrower in front; at the middle of the eyes 
it is equal to, or even greater than, their longitudinal 
diameter. The nostrils on each side of the snout lie 
on a level with the centre of the eye, just in front of 
and beloAv the projecting margin of the anterior frontal 
bone, Avhich forms the anterior orbital margin, and are 
separated only by a thin dermal septum. The mouth 
is large, as in the Anchovy, and the horizontal cleft 
thereof extends throughout the greater part of the 
length of the head, the length of the upper jaw from 
the tip of the snout being 77 — 79 %, the length of the 
loAver jaw 80 %, of that of the head. The margins of 
both jaAvs are straight and without lips. When the 
mouth is closed, only the narroAv intermaxillaries are 
visible in front, forming the Avhole margin of the upper 
jaw, from the very tip of the snout, where their hardly 
perceptible nasal processes meet the rostral tip of the 
ethmoid bone. Above them lie the maxillaries, which 
are thin and sIioav comparatively little, though gradual, 
expansion behind. The latter do not extend quite so 
far back as the intermaxillaries, a break being thus 
formed at the hind extremity of the upper jaAV. The 
loAver jaAv, Avhich projects as far as the upper, resembles, 
as a Avhole, a flat boat, when its tAVO branches adjoin 
to each other beneath. Their loAver margins are in- 
curvated, so that they cover the isthmus underneath 
throughout its length, Avith only a narrow, longitudinal 
opening between them. The jaw-teeth are small, 
pointed, and of uniform size; they are set in a dense 
card, narrow but slightly broader at the anterior ex- 
tremity, throughout the margins both of the upper 
jaw (the intermaxillaries) and the loAver. They also 
extend over the outer surface of these margins, rendering 
it rough even when the mouth is closed, the inner sur- 
face, on the other hand, being smooth. Similar teeth 
are set on the long palatine, the entopterygoid, and the 
epibranchial bones, the upper and loAver pharyngeals, 
and the Avhole series of the copular parts of the hyoid 
“16 cm., according to Johnson, assuming that it is this species which he has described. 
6 Their longitudinal diameter measures in adult specimens about 6 1 /., % of the length of the body, 23 — 26 / of the entire length 
of the head, and 37 — 3 9 1 / 2 % of the postorbital length of the head. 
