230 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
that of the body, but the sides are more yellowish, 
and on the top we find very indistinct traces of spots. 
The eye is of the same colour as in the preceding 
species, the iris only being more whitish. The dorsal 
fin is also pale, with a dash of yellow, and marked on 
the rays with from 9 to 11 wavy rows of small, round, 
brown spots, which run obliquely down from the top 
of the fin in a posterior direction. The anal and 
ventral fins pale and without spots. The caudal and 
pectoral fins, on the other hand, have small spots on 
the rays, forming a few more or less distinct, trans- 
verse bands. 
The liver is of a pale colour, and is divided at 
the point into two lobes, both of the same size, or the 
left somewhat longer than the right, and extending to 
the bottom of the stomach. It is concave at the top, 
and is wrapped round the oesophagus, the stomach and 
the pylorus. The gall-bladder is very small, scarcely 
larger than a canary seed, and lies between the upper 
part of the lobes of the liver. The oesophagus is very 
short, and the stomach small, with the pylorus set 
laterally in an upward direction and furnished with 
three, short, conical appendages. The intestine is fairly 
long, and forms its first curve just in front of the 
pylorus; behind the bottom of the stomach it forms a 
slight bend, and then descends in an almost imper- 
ceptible curve towards the vent. The air-bladder is 
wanting. The urinary bladder long, narrow and trans- 
parent. The male has two oblong, terete testes, joined 
to each other, and the female one single ovary, fairly 
large and cylindrical, and towards the spawning-season 
full of white ova of the size of poppy seed. 
This little fish, worthless to the fisherman, but 
all the more valuable to the ichthyologist, has been 
found, in Sweden, only on the north coast of Bohus- 
lan, where it was discovered by Fries in 1835 at the 
entrance of Gullmar Fjord, and was subsequently met 
with annually for some years after, in October, No- 
vember and December. More recently Malm, Ceder- 
STRom and Hansson have also found it during these 
months; and the last-named gentleman has sent to the 
Royal Museum a. specimen which was caught at the 
end of April, 1887. It has also been ascertained that 
this species lives along the whole coast of Norway, in 
Spitsbergen, where the Norwegian Arctic Expedition 
found it in Magdalena Bay, and in Greenland, where, 
according to the collections in Copenhagen Museum, it 
is the most common species of this genus. 
It seems to be an inhabitant of deep water during 
the greater part of the year, and to enter the shallows 
only in the spawning-season, which occurs during the 
months mentioned above. As it is never caught in 
any quantity, but only one or two at each haul of the 
seine, it is more than probable that, even during the 
spawning- season, it does not congregate in shoals, but 
lives in pairs. Immediately after its capture it is very 
active, and, if put into a vessel of water, makes stre- 
nuous efforts to escape, often leaping over the edge of 
the vessel. Like its near relations, it is very tenacious 
of life, and may be kept alive for several days in a 
small vessel, filled with water, if the water be changed 
daily. It then keeps close to the bottom, with the 
body extended and the pectoral fins expanded, and 
apparently supports itself on the free, lower rays of 
these fins, which, in some way, look like fingers, and 
serve as feet in the slow, creeping movements of 
the fish. 
The great strength of the jaws indicates that, relat- 
ively to its size, the Blunt-tailed Lumpenus is distinctly 
a fish of prey, though the stomach is empty in most 
specimens, during the period when it is found on the 
coast of Bohuslan. In specimens from Greenland Kroyer 
found the stomach full of Annelids; and Collett states 
that his specimen from Spitzbergen contained several 
perfect specimens of Tliemisto libellula (a Hyperidian 
crustacean), and a specimen of one of the scaly Annel- 
ids ( Lepklonote ). 
The fisherman call this fish Langebcirn (Ling-child) 
on account of its small size and resemblance in shape 
to the Ling. They know quite well, however, that it 
is distinct from the fry of the Ling. All the speci- 
mens obtained by Fries were taken in a large Flerring- 
seine at the entrance of Gullmar Fjord. 
(Fries, Smitt.) 
