ekstrom’s topknot. 
455 
than that of the head. The last ray is about half as 
long as the hn. The total length of the fin in young 
specimens is as much as 1 / 5 of the length of the body, 
in old about 13 % thereof. The pectoral tin of the 
blind side is considerably shorter, measuring somewhat 
more than 1 A, (in young specimens 3 / s ) of the length 
of the head, and more rounded, with the middle rays 
branched. The ventral tins, as in most of the Bothoids, 
are set under the head, just behind the lower jaw, 
look like the vertical tins, and apparently form an 
immediate, reduplicated continuation of the anal tin, 
though they are separated from the latter, not by any 
interval or by shorter rays, but only by the absence 
of the tin-membrane between their last rays and the 
first ray of the anal tin. Their relative length decreases 
with age, the base of the left ventral tin varying be- 
tween about 8 and 6 % that of the right ventral 
tin between about 7 and 5 1 ,/ 2 %, of the length of the 
body. Their height is about 5 or 4 % of the length 
of the body. The right tin is thus rather smaller than 
the left; both are concave in the plane of the blind 
side. The caudal fin generally has two supporting rays 
on each side; the other rays are trebly bifid, and fairly 
equal in length, giving the fin a rounded shape when 
it is expanded. 
The anal spine is wanting. The vent lies far for- 
ward, vertically under the opercula and between the 
ventral fins. The viscera are exactly like those of the 
preceding species, but the intestine is still shorter, and 
we have failed to discover any pyloric appendages. The 
largest two specimens we have examined, the type- 
specimens of Fries, are females, the one with extremely 
small eggs, the other with some of the eggs of a larger 
size, though the largest is only about l / 3 mm. in diameter. 
The coloration of the eye side is yellowish brown, 
with numerous, dark brown clouds along the dorsal 
edge and the ventral margin. A large, more distinct, 
almost band-shaped spot crosses the lateral line, through 
the angle, at the end of the first third of the body, 
and another, which is rather indistinct, at the end of 
the second third. All these spots are arranged in such 
a manner that they seem to be traces of 8 broad, trans- 
“ Skcind. Fauna , Fiskarne , p. 643, Note 2, and p. 645. 
6 “With a dredge small specimens may be taken pretty often 
Vid. Selsk. Skr., Trondhj. 1883, p. 40. 
verse bands, namely, one indistinct band in front 
of the eyes, a second across a gill-cover, a third 
across the angle of the lateral line, three on the body 
behind this point, a seventh, fairly distinct and con- 
tinuous, across the narrow part of the tail, between 
the end of the dorsal fin and that of the anal fin, and 
an eighth across the base of the caudal fin. The fin- 
rays are also spotted. The blind side is ’white throughout. 
We are not in a position to give the sexual diffe- 
rences, as both the larger specimens we have seen were 
females, and the smaller ones of uncertain sex. 
This species was first discovered and entered in 
the system by Fries, whose type-specimens are still 
preserved in the Royal Museum, and were taken in a 
dredge at the entrance of Gullmar Fjord near Fiske- 
backskil, in the island-belt of Bohuslan, on the 6th of 
April, 1838. It was subsequently found off Bergen, 
according to Nilsson", in the winter of 1844 by v. Duben 
and Koren, who referred the specimens, however, to 
Lepidorhombus whiff. Couch described and figured a 
specimen that “was taken early in the year 1863, in 
the Bristol Channel.” Collett found the species fairly 
common in Christiania Fjord. Cf. 0. Sars met with 
it off Bodo and Stavanger, Storm in Trondhjem Fjord * 6 . 
In recent years the Royal Museum has received three 
small specimens, between 40 and 65 mm. long, from 
the Zoological Station of Kristineberg — the locality 
from which Fries also obtained his specimens — and 
another, 74 mm. long, from the Weather Is. in Bohus- 
lan. The geographical range of Ekstrom’s Topknot 
thus extends at least from the Bristol Channel to the 
Lofoden Islands. It is probably not rare on the coasts 
of Scandinavia, though it has been found comparatively 
seldom, partly on account of its small size, and partly 
as it probably passes the greater part of its existence 
in water deeper than that usually fished with the seine. 
Fries obtained his specimens “in deep water,” v. Duben 
and Koren took theirs at a depth of 15 or 20 fathoms. 
Collett, however, found one specimen in 6 fathoms 
of water. Nothing more is known of the habits of 
Ekstrom’s Topknot. 
(SUNDEVALL, SMITT.) 
on a rocky bottom, even in the innermost parts of the fjord:” Norsk. 
