514 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
So far north, however, the Poutassou does not seem to 
be common, though it is so in Trondhjem Fjord, ac- 
cording to Storm, as well as in the south of Norway. 
According to v. Duben and Koren it is taken with hook 
and line all the year round off Bergen, in 80 — 100 
fathoms of water. In Christiania it is daily exposed for 
sale, according to Collett, in October and November. 
On the coast of Bohn slan it is again rare, though, ac- 
cording to Malm, young specimens in pursuit of Herring- 
fry and Sprats sometimes come within reach of the 
seine in shoals. The first Swedish specimen preserved 
for scientific purposes was obtained by S. Loven in 
1861 in central Bohuslan. This specimen is about 3 
dm. long. In more recent years, according to Malm, 
three solitary specimens between 3 and 4 dm. long have 
been taken on hand-lines and Haddock-lines in 16 — 20 
fathoms of water off Domso, Yinga, and Paternoster 
Rock. During the winter of 1866 a larger number of 
specimens, 15—17 cm. long, were taken off Fjellbacka 
in a seine during the Sprat-fishery. In 1881 the Royal 
Museum received from Mr. C. A. Hansson a specimen 
36 cm. long that had been taken in May on a long- 
line shot at a depth of between 50 and 70 fathoms, 
between the Koster and Tister Islands. Two more spe- 
cimens have since been taken in the north of Bohuslan 
by the same indefatigable collector, in 1890 and 1892 
respectively. 
It is very probable that the Poutassou is more 
frequently taken in Sweden, for the fishermen in ge- 
neral set no value upon it, and therefore do not take 
the trouble to preserve it. Still the flesh, according to 
Day, is of good flavour, but soft, and rapidly decom- 
poses. The spawning-season occurs probably at the be- 
ginning of the year. In July Couch found multitudes 
of young specimens about 5 in. long, on the English 
coast and not far from land. 
Genus MERLUCIUS. 
Two fully developed dorsal fins , the posterior , as well as the single anal fin , being, however , more or less incised 
at the margin behind the middle, sometimes so deeply that the fin seems to be divided in two. Caudal fin in adult 
specimens truncate or forked. Peduncle ( finless part) of the tail distinct. Ventral fins normal , but with 7 rays. 
Jaivs and vomer furnished with teeth. Branchiostegal rays 7. 
This genus comes so near the preceding one (Gad us) 
that it is only for the sake of systematical consistency 
that we keep them apart, as we are in any case com- 
pelled, for the present at least, to employ the different 
degrees of differentiation shown by the vertical fins as 
the most important generic characters of the Gadoid 
family. The number of rays in the ventral fins seems, 
however, to give us a constant character, if we except 
Faber’s” description of Merlucius argent atus, a species 
which, to the best of our knowledge, has never reap- 
peared. In the pyloric appendages this genus corre- 
sponds most nearly, as we have mentioned above, to 
the last species of the preceding genus, there being only 
one appendage at the pylorus. But in this genus the 
two lobes of the liver are developed to such an extent 
that, in some cases at least, the liver is large and broad, 
occupying the whole breadth of the abdominal cavity 
below and behind almost to a line with the vent, where 
in some Hakes it is continued, in the posterior pro- 
longation of the cavity, by a lobe on the right side, 
the left lobe being wanting behind. Still there is con- 
siderable variation in this respect, for in one specimen 
of our Hake we find only a narrow lobe of the liver 
and this on the left side of the stomach, which extends 
nearly to the vent. In the form of the body, however, 
which is terete and elongated, the genus Merlucius 
comes nearer the small Gadoids, especially saida, and 
in this respect forms a transition from the Ling-type. 
This state of transition also appears in the form of the 
caudal fin, which in young Hakes, as in the Ling, is 
rounded, but in older specimens becomes truncate or 
even forked. In the structure of the skeleton the Hake 
is most nearly approximated to navaga, by the large, 
broad, and interiorly concave, transverse processes of 
most of the abdominal vertebras ; but the structure of 
the skull is characteristic of the genus, the two frontal 
bones proper being distinctly separated from each other 
by a suture, and the occipital ridge, which in the genus 
Gadus advances without a division and with sharp edge, 
forward over the forehead to the middle or at least to 
the hind part of the orbits, being here divided, and 
running in an oblique, forward and outward direction 
Fisclie Islands , p. 90. 
