546 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
are wide, for the dermal fold formed by the inferior 
union of the branch iostegal membranes is free from the 
isthmus forward to the anterior end of the hyoid 1 tone, 
and the upper corners of the gill- openings lie far up 
the sides, on about a level with the upper margin of the 
eyes. The tongue is broad and thick, with the free 
margin and tip thin. The pointed and curved jaw-teeth 
form a card in most cases distinct, on the front part of 
the intermaxillary bones; but this card grows consider- 
ably narrower behind, and sometimes, in old specimens, 
even at the very front of the maxillaries, we find only 
two or three rows within the outermost row, which is 
made up of larger but more scattered teeth. In the 
lower jaw the innermost row is composed of larger teeth, 
and in front of this row we generally find only one row 
of smaller teeth. The card of teeth on the head of the 
vomer contains small teeth, which gradually disappear 
with age. In young specimens this card is crescent- 
shaped, convex in front, or triangular, with several rows 
of teeth, but in old specimens there are only one or two 
rows of vomerine teeth. The breadth of the card is at 
most about 1 / 3 , and eventually no more than x / 5 , of the 
longitudinal diameter of the eye. The pointed, conical, 
pharyngeal teeth together form a broad, oval card on 
the upper pharyngeals on each side; and the lower 
pharyngeals, which are scaphoid in shape, and somewhat 
curved at the middle, the breadth being 1 / 4 of the length, 
are furnished wfith 5 or 6 rows of similar teeth. The 
gill-rakers are short and scattered, like tubercles, the 
first branchial arch being furnished with 8 — 10 pairs. 
During life the whole of the branchial cavity and the 
cavity of the mouth with the tongue are bluish black. 
The first dorsal fin — which in this genus consists 
of about 50 free, filamentous rays, which vibrate during 
life, and are without interspinal bones — is distinguished 
in the Four-Bearded Rockling by the remarkable length 
of the first ray, which in the females measures about 
V 3 of the length of the head, in the males up to at 
least 87 % thereof. In the males its tip, when laid back, 
may thus extend some way behind the beginning of the 
second dorsal fin. The distance between the beginning 
of the first dorsal fin and the tip of the snout is 15 — 
17 % of the length of the body, and the length of its 
base measures about 8 1 / 2 - — 10 % of this length or 45 1 / 2 
— 55 % of that of the head. This fin is always sepa- 
rated by a distinct interval from the second dorsal fin, 
which begins at a distance from the tip of the snout 
that measures about 26V2 — 29 % of the length of the 
body. The base of the latter fin extends nearly to the 
caudal fin, and measures about 57 l / 2 — 59 % of the length 
of the body. All the rays of this fin, except the first 
one, are branched at the tip, the first 4 — 6 gradually 
increasing in length and the last 4 or 5 growing gra- 
dually shorter. The other rays are of fairly uniform 
length, but somewhat longer in the posterior part of the 
fin, the length of the longest ray varying between about 
7V 2 and 9 % of that of the body. The caudal fin is 
sharply rounded when expanded, lanceolate when folded. 
The anal fin resembles the second dorsal, but is much 
shorter and distinctly lower. It begins at a distance from 
the tip of the snout of about 41 % (38 — 43 %), its base 
measures about 45 % (43 x / 2 — 49 %), and its longest ray 
about 6V 2 96 (6 — 7 %) of the length of the body. 
The pectoral fins are oval and obtusely pointed, 
with the middle rays longest and the first two simple. 
They are fairly long, measuring about 13 % (11 1 / 2 — 16 
%) of the length of the body. The ventral fins are set 
far apart, almost below the beginning of the first dorsal 
fin or a little further forward, at a distance from the 
beginning of the anal fin that measures about 2 1 1 / 2 — 
26 % of the length of the body. The first two rays, 
sometimes the first three, are free at the tip. The length 
of these fins is about 8 % (7 — 10 96 ) of that of the body. 
The anal aperture, with a small anal papilla behind 
it, lies just in front of the beginning of the anal fin. 
The scales are small, but densely imbricated, and 
extend — growing smaller and smaller forwards and out- 
wards — over the whole of the head, leaving only the 
branchiostegal membrane and the lips naked, and over 
the entire membrane of the second dorsal and the caudal 
fins, as well as over the hind part of the membrane of 
the anal fin. The outer surface of the pectoral fins is 
also clothed with scales to an extent of about one-third; 
but the ventral fins are naked. The lateral line is some- 
times scarcely distinguishable: in the original of our 
figure, a female, no lateral line could be traced while 
the specimen was fresh. It runs from the upper corner 
of the gill-opening, parallel to the dorsal edge, until it 
reaches the perpendicular from about the vent. At 
this point it descends, at first not quite to the middle 
of the sides of the tail, but afterwards coming nearer 
and nearer this position, and advances straight to the 
middle of the base of the caudal fin. Its scattered 
pores, about 30 in number, are either simple or some- 
times, in its anterior part, ramified in the form of a 
cross or a rosette. 
