GREAT FORKED BEARD. 
543 
to have been taken in Bohusliin. Two of these are pre- 
served in Gothenburg Museum, and the Royal Museum 
has acquired through Mr. C. A. Hansson a specimen 57 
cm. long which was caught on a long-line at a depth 
of 130 fathoms, north of Helso near Stromstad, on the 
12th of March, 1887. The fisherman who handed over 
the specimen, stated, however, that the species Avas knoAvn 
and called Kumrill. It is more common to the south of 
Norway, up to the neighbourhood of Trondhjem, Avhere 
it is called Stenbrosme (Stone Torsk) or Skj(slbrosme 
(Scaly Torsk). Young specimens, hoAvever, have never 
been found on the SAvedish coasts, and are at least ex- 
tremely rare in Nonvay, if they occur there at all, for 
“all the specimens hitherto examined,” says Collett, 
“have been full-groAvn or nearly so.” Thus the true 
habitat of the Great Forked Beard does not lie in Scan- 
dinavia, and scarcely in British waters®, but further 
south, in the Mediterranean. There it lives, says Risso 6 , 
“collected in large shoals, and seems to prefer very deep 
spots with a soft bottom, Avhere it is taken in consider- 
able numbers all the year round, on long-lines.” The 
young specimens, which Risso regarded as a distinct 
species ( Pliycis Gmelini), are said to lead a solitary 
life among the seaAveed in shallower Avater (in the littoral 
zone). The food of the species consists of crustaceans 
and fish. The females, according to Risso, are full of 
roe towards the end of spring and during summer. “The 
flesh,” he says, “is Avholesome, juicy, and of good flavour 
all the year round: it is one of the foods recommended 
by physicians for weak and impaired digestions.” 
Gexus ONOS. 
Two dorsal fins, though the anterior one is broken up into a roiv of free, filamentous rays; one anal fin; the 
vertical fins distinctly separated (a distinct, finless peduncle of the tail). Ventral fins with (V — 8 rays. Cardi- 
form teeth on the intermaxillary bones, in the lower jaw, and on the head of the vomer. Branchiosteyal rays 7 d . 
Risso e Avas the first to give this genus a special 
name, and he selected for this purpose the name Avhich 
the Greeks applied to the Codfishes in general. The 
genus has long been knoAvn, however, by the name of 
Motella, which was given it somewhat later ' by Cuvier, 
but Avhich lie expressly declared to be merely a divi- 
sion of his subgenus Lota of the genus Gadus. In form 
these fishes come nearest to the Burbot and the Lings, 
and are therefore known in SAvedish as skdrldnyor (Rock 
Lings), in Danish as havkvabber (Sea Burbots). 
The chief character of the genus lies in the singular 
structure of the first dorsal fin, which is broken up into 
a number of free, filamentous rays, united by the fin- 
membrane only at the base — Avhich lies hidden in a 
deep groove in the dorsal margin. T he fin-membrane, 
hoAvever, is generally comparatively thick and skin -like. 
The rays are usually of uniform height and short, with 
the exception of the first, Avhich is more or less elongated, 
sometimes considerably so. Another striking character- 
istic of these fishes is the equipment of the snout Avith 
barbels. Not only is the loAver jaw, like that of so many 
a Though it undoubtedly spawns there, for Day gives a figure, 
b Eur. Me'r. T. Ill, p. 224. 
c Exceptionally 5. 
a Exceptionally 6. 
e Eur. Merid., tome III, p. 214 — Onos. 
f Regne Animal , ed. 2, tom. II, p. 334. 
other Codfishes, furnished Avith a barbel under the chin, 
and the hind margin of the anterior nostrils raised and 
elongated into a similar filament; but in this genus the 
tip of the snout may also be furnished Avith one or two 
similar barbels. In one species Ave find on each side of the 
snout, on a level with the last-mentioned barbels, a roAv 
of three shorter, rudimentary excrescences of this nature, 
groAving on the dermal margin in which the free loAver 
margin of the preorbital bones is continued Reward . 
The scales are small and thin, in texture almost 
exactly like those of the Burbot, Avith fairly central 
nucleus and dense (but during youth feAver and more 
scattered), concentric striae, denticulated at the margin. 
The Avhole surface on each side of the nucleus is longi- 
tudinally cut off, however, by a middle groove, Avhich 
groAvs someAvhat broader toAvards the ends of the scale, 
and is broadest at the anterior (inserted) end, Avhich is also 
notched. The lateral line opens into scattered (compara- 
tively feAv) ducts, Avhich do not entirely pierce the scales. 
The fry of these fishes (Plate XXVII, fig. 2) are 
quite different from the old specimens, especially in 
in the natural size, of a young specimen 3 4; - in. long. 
