460 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
the body is, therefore, rough in whatever direction the 
hand is passed over it, though roughest when stroked 
from behind, and feels like hard velvet. The blind side 
of the body, on the other hand, is smooth, the scales 
being cycloid, somewhat more elongated, and overlapping 
each other only to the usual extent. On this side, too, 
the scales are wanting on the head and all the tin-rays, 
except in the caudal fin. The lateral line of the body, 
which begins in the temporal region, on a level with 
the middle of the posterior eye or somewhat higher — 
here, as in the other Flukes, considerably above the 
upper angle of the gill-openings — forms a rather low 
and elongated, sinuous curve over the pectoral tin, until, 
just behind the tip of the left pectoral tin and some- 
what above the middle of the sides, it resumes its 
straight course back to the middle of the caudal tin. 
The intestinal canal reminds us in its course of the 
Soles. The oesophagus with its continuation, the stomach, 
runs almost straight along the roof of the abdominal 
cavity into the left secondary cavity, somewhat beyond 
the middle of the length of the body, where the sto- 
mach ends in the form of a blind sac. From the lower 
side, just in front of its bottom, it sends out a short 
pyloric part, externally separated by contractions both 
from the stomach and the small intestine, which latter 
runs forward in a curve com - ex from below to the front 
wall of the abdominal cavity, where it bends sharply 
upwards to return in a circular coil on the right side 
of the liver to the rectum, which leads to the vent. 
The liver, which lies as usual to the left, is compara- 
tively small, and the pyloric appendages are wanting. 
The left ovary extends when ripe back to the beginning 
of the last quarter of the body, while the right ovary 
at the same period extends only a little beyond the 
middle of the body. 
The coloration of the eye side, though extremely 
variable, renders Muller’s Topknot one of the most hand- 
some of the Scandinavian Flatfishes, v. Wright’s figure 
(PI. XIX, fig. 2) represents a young specimen 27 mm. 
long. This specimen is of a violet-gray ground-colour, 
with an ash-gray lustre, strongest on the jaws and the 
caudal fin, and brown and pale yellow spots and streaks. 
The most prominent marking on the body is a sharply 
defined, brownish black spot, as large as one of the 
eyes, situated just in front of the middle of the body, 
at the end of the curve of the lateral line. Next come 
the brown spots on the gill -covers; two of these are 
especially distinct, in the form of oblique stripes, one 
running upwards in an oblique posterior direction from 
the upper eye, and one downwards in an oblique pos- 
terior direction from the lower eye. Even in front of 
the eyes we find traces of a transverse stripe. Along 
the bases of the dorsal and anal fins runs a row of 
alternate, brown and pale yellow spots, the former, in 
accordance with Sundevall’s explanation of the colour- 
ing of the preceding species, being traces of transverse 
bands across the body and fins, the latter a common 
marking of the Flatfishes, especially the fry. Similar 
pale yellow spots also occur on the gill-covers, and in- 
distinct, scattered ones on the body. In old specimens 
the ground-colour is yellowish brown, with numerous, 
brown or nearly black, transverse spots or bands on 
the body and fins. Three of these bands generally start 
from the anterior part of the superior margin of the 
upper eye, diverging out over the dorsal fin. A fourth, 
broader band runs from the hind margin of this eye 
obliquely upwards to the dorsal fin, and in most cases 
may be traced between the eyes, and is continued down- 
wards, obliquely backwards across the cheek and inter- 
operculum, out over the first rays of the anal fin. From 
the anterior part of the lower eye we may generally 
find traces of divergent brown bands, one forward along 
the snout, another downward, across the middle of the 
lower jaw, and a third obliquely backward, over the 
left ventral fin. On the body itself the brown bands 
are usually broken up more thoroughly into oblong or 
round spots; but on the operculum and suboperculum 
the arrangement of these spots still shows traces of a 
band, running parallel to the interrupted angular band 
of the eye, and this arrangement may sometimes be traced 
all the way along the body. About 15 or 16 transverse 
bands seem to have crossed the dorsal fin, and about 
12 the anal. The most prominent of the spots are the 
round one which we have mentioned above, at the end 
of the curve of the lateral line, another, which is not 
so distinct, further back along this line, and a third on 
the upper part of the operculum. The blind side is white. 
Muller’s Topknot occurs at least from the neigh- 
bourhood of Trondhjem south to the Bay of Biscay on 
the south-west of France; but in the extreme north as 
well as in the extreme south of its range it is rare, 
or at all events of infrequent occurrence, so that it is 
strictly a British fish. It does not enter the Baltic, but 
is taken pretty often on the coast of Bohuslan and in 
the comparatively deep channel along the west coast of 
Sweden, as well as in the east of the Sound, down to 
