222 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
rest of it consists of from 40 to 42 articulated, soft 
rays, which are as it were divided at the point, or at 
least show traces of a division there. The pectoral 
tins are oval and very small, their length being about 
half the depth of the body, or, in old specimens, less. 
They are inserted very low, the upper end of the axil 
occupying the top of the lowest third of the depth of 
the body. They contain 11 or 12 rays®, the first three 
of which may be simple; the 6th and 7th are the 
longest. The ventral fins are extremely small, almost 
rudimentary, and are set close to each other, very 
slightly in front of the pectoral fins. At first sight they 
seem to consist of only one small, hard and very sharp 
ray, which is very thick at the base, in length about 
V 2 the diameter of the eye, and enveloped in a thick 
fin-membrane with a somewhat widened rim; but on 
closer examination we find in the skin an inner, smaller, 
soft ray, closely joined to the outer one. The caudal 
fin is also very small, being of about the same length 
as the pectoral fins. When expanded, it acquires a 
handsome, rounded shape. It contains from 18 to 20 
rays in all, the outer ones being extremely small, 
simple and articulated, the middle 13 or 14 branched 
at the tip. 
The colouring is yellowish brown, with indistinct, 
irregular, confluent, lighter, roundish spots, which give 
the body a mottled appearance. Under a magnifying- 
glass the skin also displays numbers of black dots, 
with which it is thickly besprinkled. Sides of the head 
pale. From the eye a, black streak runs vertically 
downwards to the articulation of the lower jaw. The 
regions of the gill-cover, the branchiostegal membrane, 
the isthmus and the ventral and pectoral fins flame- 
yellow. Iris of a glossy, dark, greenish yellow, with 
a yellow ring round the pupil. Along the back, at a 
fixed distance from each other we find 10 (sometimes 
only 9, or even as many as 13) large, ocellated spots, 
which extend out on the dorsal fin-membrane. These 
spots are roundish, but irregular, and have a deep black 
centre, surrounded by a yellowish white ring. The front 
ones are generally the most distinct, the posterior ones 
often dull or obliterated, and sometimes these spots 
are entirely wanting * 6 . In very young specimens, 3 1 1 / 2 
mm. long, Malm c describes these spots as being colour- 
less, standing sharply out against the reddish brown 
colour of the body, which also extends over the ver- 
tical fins. The anal fin is of the same colour as the 
body, but is edged with flame-yellow and marked with 
indistinct, whitish spots, set in oblique rows, and thus 
having the appearance of transverse bands, when the 
fin is depressed. Caudal fin flame-yellow at the tip. 
The entire digestive canal is short and forms a 
tube of almost uniform diameter, with a slight widening 
for the stomach, which is small, and without any true 
sac, or even any trace of pyloric appendages. It forms 
some less marked curves, and bends in the shape of 
an S before opening into the vent. The liver, which 
is pale liver-brown in colour, really forms only one 
lobe, envelops the stomach, and extends to the end of 
the first quarter of the abdominal cavity. On its in- 
side, just in front of this point, we find the gall-bladder, 
which is small. Air-bladder wanting. Urinary bladder 
cylindrical, with long, tapering bottom, transparent, 
and filled with a clear, colourless fluid. On cutting 
open a gravid female, we find only one, large, cylin- 
drical ovary, which fills nearly the whole of the ab- 
dominal cavity from the vent to the end of the liver. 
The ovary is then crammed with white eggs, almost 
as large as a pin’s head, and, on account of their ar- 
rangement, hexagonal in shape, like the cells of a honey- 
comb. In the male at the same season, we find two 
long testicles of uniform breadth and yellowish white, 
as usual, in colour, which lie close to each other, and 
extend forwards to the end of the liver. 
Of the remarkable points in the skeleton Ave shall 
point out only one, Avhich has already been remarked 
by Valenciennes. Both the abdominal and the caudal 
vertebras, Avith the exception of the first two or three 
among the former, have the transverse processes turned 
doAvnwards and meeting each other, thus forming a 
closed ring for each vertebra. The number of the 
abdominal vertebras is about 34, of the caudal about 51. 
The SAvedish name of the Spotted Gunnel {Teste-, 
Tiste- or Tejstefisk) varies in different districts accord- 
ing to the local form of the name of the black guille- 
mot ( Grissla or Teste). It has been named after this 
bird, as being one of the small fishes Avhich form the 
chief part of the black guillemot’s food. According to 
Nilsson it is called Svcirdfisk (SAVordfish) at Kivik, on 
account of its shape, and in Norway, according to 
8 In a young specimen, however, we have found only 9. 
6 This variety is described by Olsson in Ofvers. Vet. Akad. Forh. 1867, p. 605. 
c Vet. Akad. Handl., l>d. 7 (1867), No. 4, p. 5 and Gbgs , Boh. Fn., 1. c. 
