314 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
of the body from a length of 95 to 1,410 mm., rela- 
tively sinks from 23 to 9 1 / a % of the length of the body 
and the greatest depth of the body from 28 l / 2 to 10V 2 
% of the length, while the length of the tail (the di- 
stance between the vent and the caudal fin) undergoes 
even relative increase from 31 V 2 to 60 % of that of 
the body — changes which are extremely extraordinary 
and significant in fishes that, in spite of them, have 
attained the typical form of their species. At the same 
time his measurements show individual deviations from 
these rules so marked that none of the above relations 
can be employed as a specific character. The number 
of rays in the dorsal fin of this species is just as irre- 
gular, varying individually in full-grown specimens be- 
tween 130 and 179, excluding the 5 or 6 rays, the 
number of which is also inconstant, in the anterior 
division of the fin. 
Such is our knowledge of the whole of this family, 
the natural history of which has hitherto been drawn 
from specimens usually rare and more or less damaged, 
of species which are evidently subject to great changes 
of development and irregular variations, even in their 
adult form. The family has been divided, however, 
into three genera", two of which occur within the limits 
of the Scandinavian fauna, the one furnished with teeth 
in the jaws and on the vomer, the other probably 
without any teeth in the mouth, at least in adult spe- 
cimens. 
Genus TRACHYPTERUS. 
The silvery body smooth and even on the sides, but. until spines on the lateral line and at the base of the dorsal 
rays. Upper part of the caudal fin erected into a fan, more or less perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the 
body, while the lower part of the fin is stunted. Recurved, pointed teeth scattered on the inner surface of the 
intermaxillary bones, in the front part of the lower jaw and on the head of the vomer. Number of rays in the 
dorsal fin less than 200. Branchiostegal rays 6. Bottom of the stomach short. 
The genus of the Vogmar b or Solv-qveite c was 
known to the ancient writers, who called it Tcenia d . 
Neither Artedi nor Linnaeus knew it by autopsy; and 
Gouan 6 was the first to introduce it into the system «. 
of modern times, under the name of Trachypterus.' 
Immediately afterwards the Icelandic Dealfish was dis- 
covered, and in Olafsen’s Voyage referred to Artedi’ s 
genus Lepturus j while Brunnich subsequently proposed 
to refer this species to the Gronovian genus Gymno- 
g aster 9 , the name under which this genus was first 
claimed for the Scandinavian fauna by Nilsson. 
We have already remarked the difficulty of defin- 
ing the species in this genus. Even in Giglioli’s list 
“ Of one of these genera, Stylophorus, only one specimen is k 
and Martinique, and is now in the possession of the British Museum. 
(28 cm. long) of the long caudal ray, twice the length of the body, 
b Vogmere or Vogmcer = maid of the bay (from vog , bay and 
c This is the name given to the Scandinavian species in the t 
signifies Silvery Halibut. 
d raivla, Aristot., tcenia, Rondel. 
e Hist. Pise. (1770), pp. 104 and 153, Trachipterus (sic), 
f Art., Descr. Spec., p. 111. 
CJ Zoophyl., fasc. I, p. 136. 
h Espos. Intern. Pesca, Berlino 1880, Cat. Sez. Ital., p. 91. 
* Two, according to Nilsson. 
4 The American Trachypterus altivelis, Kner, 1. c., and the 
Soc. N. S. Wales, vol. V, p. 631, pi. 20. 
k Vid. Meddel. Naturh. For., Kbhvn 1881, p. 190. 
of the forms belonging to the Italian fauna* * there 
appear seven species from the Mediterranean. We 
should further recognise one distinct species from Ma- 
deira, one' from the North of the Atlantic and two 7 
from the Pacific Ocean. The number of species has 
been so reduced, however, by Emery (1. c.) and still 
further by Lutken*, that we can now scarcely recognise 
more than two species as belonging to the basin of 
the Atlantic, the northern species, though it attains a 
greater length, merely representing the earlier (lower) 
stages in the same course of development as that of 
the southern. 
)wn, which was taken at the beginning of this century between Cuba 
This genus is characterized chiefly by the persistency in this specimen 
which we have remarked in the larva of Trachypterus. 
. nicer, maid), according to Olafsen, Reise igjennem Island (1772), p. 594. 
mrth of Norway. See Lilljeborg, Vet.-Akad. Handl. 1850. The name 
Australian Trachypterus ( Regalcecus ) jacksoniensis , Ramsay, Proc. Lin. 
