LESSER LING. 
523 
tion, covered throughout the surface with cardiform 
teeth of uniform size. At the side of these projections, 
on the uppermost part (the epibranchial bone) of the 
third branchial arch a small, separate patch of teeth 
may be felt". The gill -openings are large and admit 
of considerable expansion, but the branchiostegal mem- 
branes are united underneath into a broad dermal fold, 
free from the isthmus and extending almost to the 
tops of the first branchiostegal rays. The preoper- 
culum is crescent-shaped, the interoperculum rather 
broad behind, the operculum rather small and deeply 
concave at the hind margin, and the suboperculum 
comparatively large. The cephalic system of the lateral 
line is well-developed, with distinct and sometimes open 
pores along the long preorbital bone as well as at the 
margin of the preoperculum and on the branches of 
the lower jaw. Straight in front of each of the nasal 
cavities, about half-way between it and the tip of the 
snout, lies a large muciferous groove, with a nostril- 
like and sometimes open pore. 
The first dorsal fin resembles that of the Hake, 
and here too its height (the length of the longest ray) 
is generally greater than the length of the base, but 
subject to considerable variation, thus rendering it al- 
most impossible to formulate any rule for this relation. 
The fin begins at a distance from the tip of the snout 
equal to about 7* (26 — 25 %) of the length of the 
body, the length of its base varies between about Vis 
and 7n b of the length of the body, and the length of 
its longest ray between 1 ,j 4 and 1 J 12 C thereof. The 
shape of the tin also varies, being either triangular or 
rounded. All the rays, except the first and the last, 
may be bifid at the tip, though only indistinctly. The 
second dorsal tin begins just behind the end of the 
first or at only a slight distance from it, and is sepa- 
rated from the tip of the snout by a distance equal 
to about 2 /s (61 — 67 %) of the length of the fin itself. 
It is always lower than the first dorsal fin, and in the 
middle third of the fin the rays are generally distinctly 
shorter, but at the 40th — 50th ray the height again 
begins to increase, about the 60th ray being the longest 
and measuring about 6 or 7 % of the length of the 
body. The first three rays as well as the last are 
generally undivided, the others more or less indistinctly 
divided. The division is most distinct in the rays in 
the hindmost part of the fin. 
The anal fin reproduces the form and structure 
of the second dorsal, but is lower and shorter. It be- 
gins a little behind the vent, the distance between its 
beginning and the tip of the snout being about 40 — 
42 % of the length of the body, and ends a little way 
from the first lower supporting ray of the caudal fin, 
usually a little behind the perpendicular from the end 
of the second dorsal fin, but sometimes in a line with 
this latter fin, or even a little further forward. 
The caudal fin is also invariably separated by a. 
distinct interval both from the second dorsal and the 
anal fin. The middle of its base (the tip of the tail) 
lies at a distance from the ends of these fins measuring 
about S or 9 % of the length of the body. Its shape 
is cuneiform, with the hind margin somewhat convex 
or nearly straight. 
The pectoral fins resemble fhose of the Hake, 
being of an oval, obliquely pointed shape. Their length 
— 7 9 or 7io of that of' the body — is greater than 
the postorbital length of the head, and more than half 
as much again as the length of the snout. 
The narrow ventral tins, on the other hand, differ 
widely from those of the Hake. As a rule they are 
longer than the pectoral fins, this being due to the 
great elongation of the tips of the rays, especially of 
the second one. Still, in this species too, the ventral 
fins become comparatively shorter during growth. 
The scales are thin and small, but close-set and 
imbricated, extending over the whole body forward 
along the snout and over the greater part of the thick 
membrane of the vertical fins. They are largest, as 
usual, on the sides of the hind part of the body; but 
among the larger scales we find small accessory scales, 
the nucleus of which is sometimes extremely eccentric. 
The scales on the anterior part of the head and on 
the fins are equally small, but we have never found 
their nuclei to be so eccentric. In all the scales the 
nucleus is round and rather small. It always lies in 
a Kr0yer has remarked as a characteristic of the common Ling that in the pharynx we find on each side four, dentated upper phar- 
yngeals, three of them united, as usual, into an oval patch furnished with teeth, and a “fourth, small, isolated bone.” The true state of 
the case is, however, that here, as in many of the Teleosts, especially in this species and the Burbot as well as in the Hake and the larger 
species of the genus Gadus — with the exception of the Haddock — the epibranchial bones of the third branchial arch are furnished with teeth. 
6 6‘8 — 9'3 %, according to our measurements of 4 specimens between 56 and 85 cm. long. 
c 7‘2 — 8‘1 %, according to our measurements. 
