ANGLBTl. 
215 
made from them when they were quite fresh. The ventral 
fins are still longer in the Mediterranean fish than in one of 
the Scandinavian specimens, being, with the filaments in which 
the rays terminate, as long as the whole fish. Diiben and 
Keren believe that the length of the ventrals indicates a sexual 
difference. I cannot share this opinion, which is contrary to 
what we observe in other fishes. If there are external sexual 
dlfl’erences in a species, they do not appear before the individuals 
approach maturity. The young male and female of Callionymus 
lyra are perfectly alike. 
“The Mediterranean and Scandinavian specimens agree in 
the chief points; their head, compared with mature individuals, 
is shorter and less depressed; the anterior dorsal spine is 
shorter than the following ones, which are more fringed; the 
pectoral and ventral fins are much longer and more expansible; 
the fin rays are produced into delicate filaments; in short, the 
young Sea Devils are provided with a down which is lost with 
age. There are two distinct species of Sea Devil in the 
Mediterranean Seas, — Lophius piscatorius and L. Budegassa. 
The distinctness of these two s; ecies has been doubted by most 
ichthyologists, the second (called by Cuvier L. jianipinnis,) 
having been founded on apparently variable characters, as 
colouration and number of the dorsal rays. The latter may 
be relied upon if immature specimens (not more than one foot 
in length) be examined; L. piscatorius having not less than 
eleven, and L. Budegassa not more than nine dorsal rays. 
But the anterior rays become very indistinct in adult specimens 
of the former, and are totally lost to observation by the 
process of stuffing, to which the large specimens are submitted. 
In consequence of this the Short-finned Sea Devil has not 
been admitted as a species by Valenciennes, Nilsson, and 
others, who perhaps never examined an individual really 
belonging to it, always taking incomplete specimens of L. 
piscatorius for L. Budegassa. Both, however, may be readily 
recognised at any age, by the form of the humeral spine, 
which has two or three tooth-like processes in the former, 
whilst it is smooth, simple, and lanceolate in the latter. L. 
Budegassa does not appear to grow to the same size as L. 
piscatorius. It will be evident from these remarks to which 
of the two species we refer the L. eurypterus. Although no 
