490 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
dark band above and below the latter. The fins plain 
and of the same colour as the body, the upper ones 
dark, the lower very pale, with the extreme tip or the 
margin pure, lustrous white; the pectoral fins yellowish, 
with the insertion itself white and a blackish spot at 
the upper part of the axil. This spot, though it 
varies in distinctness, is always present, and is thus 
a characteristic of Whitings of all ages. The ventral 
fins are milky white. 
The abdominal cavity extends a good distance 
behind the vent, almost to the end of the first anal fin. 
It is lined with a. silver-gray membrane of a yellow 
lustre and thickly strewn with small black dots. The 
intestinal canal is long, with the stomach produced into 
a long blind sac and, when empty, of almost the same 
diameter as the oesophagus, and extending to a line with 
the vent. The pylorus lies fairly far forward, the pyloric 
part of the stomach being somewhat compressed and 
elongated, and the origin of the intestine is furnished 
with numerous appendages of different lengths, the gall 
duct opening just in front of them. The intestine 
subsequently forms four bends before it terminates. 
The liver is large, of a whitish yellow colour, and is 
made up of three lobes, the longest of which is of 
almost uniform breadth and triangular, and extends to 
the end of the abdominal cavity on the left side. The 
middle lobe is short and the broadest of the three, 
with thin edges. The right lobe is somewhat longer 
than the middle one, but narrow and sharply pointed. 
Under the base of the last lobe lies the gall-bladder, 
which in a specimen 50 cm. long is of the size of an 
acorn, transparent, thin, and filled with a clear, light 
greenish fluid. The spleen is of a. dark chestnut-brown, 
triangular, and oblong with pointed corners. The ovaries 
are united at the middle into one single chamber, and 
the oviduct, which is rather wide, and opens just be- 
hind the rectum, issues from the loiver wall of this 
chamber. The testes, as in most of the Cods, are lobate 
and laid in folds resembling the cerebral convolutions 
in the Mammals. From the kidneys, which lie along 
the spine and are supported by the air-bladder, the 
urethra passes through a fine aperture, and enters the 
abdominal cavity about half-way between the vent and 
the end of the cavity. It widens suddenly into an 
oblong, vesicular duct, which runs forward, again con- 
tracts, and opens into a small papilla just behind the 
genital opening. The air-bladder is very large and 
extends along the whole dorsal side of the abdominal 
cavity from beginning to end, being attached on each 
side by transverse ligaments and covered by the peri- 
toneum. In front, on the inside of the bottom of the 
air-bladder, we find a large, glandular swelling (vaso- 
ganglion) furnished with capillary vessels. The air- 
bladder also sends out in front two long, curved ducts 
that ascend towards the head. 
The geographical range of the Whiting extends at 
least from North Cape along the ivest coast of Europe 
to Spain; and if Steindachner is right, as seems quite 
probable, in his identification of the species with Gadus 
euxinus, the Whiting is also common in the Adriatic 
and the Black Sea. Heuglin® states that he took a 
specimen of the Whiting off Waigatz (between Nova 
Zembla and Russia); but up to the present no other 
instance has been recorded of the occurrence of the 
species in the Arctic Ocean east of Norway, even in 
Varanger Fjord, or in the White Sea. Throughout 
the west coast of Scandinavia the Whiting is plentiful, 
especially among the islands. It is also common all 
round Denmark and by no means rare in the south 
of the Baltic, in certain years at least, as far north as 
Blekinge. On the coast of Gothland, though there it 
may lie merely an occasional visitor, one specimen was 
taken off Wisby in the spring of 1865, according to 
Lindstrom. According to Faber it occurs, though 
only seldom, on* the south coast of Iceland and off the 
Faroe Islands, but is wanting on the north coast of 
Iceland. Nor has it been met with off Greenland or 
on the North American coast. In the Pacific its place 
is taken by a near relation, Gadus proximns. 
In the island-belt of Bohuslan the Whiting is one 
of the commonest species of the genus, and is taken 
in quantities all the year round. When other fish fail 
him, the fisherman of Bohuslan can always procure 
enough Whiting for his daily wants. This fish, espe- 
cially when the Herring is scarce, thus gives the poor 
man an unfailing supply of food to fall back upon; 
and in this capacity the Whiting is of no small ser- 
vice, though its inconsiderable size is a drawback which 
deprives it, to a considerable extent, of value from a 
commercial point of view. On the west coast of Scan- 
dinavia the Whiting is also an object of sport; and on 
a fine summer or autumn night one may often see 
Reiseii nach dem Nordpo] arnicer 1870 und 1871, Th. 3, p. 219. 
