LAWYER. | 995 
GENUS 86. LOTA. Cuvier. 
Lota, CuviER, Regne Animal, ii, 1817. 
Type, Gadus lota, L.: Lota maculosa, var. vulgaris, BEAN. 
Etymology, Latin, lota, the ancient name of the Burbot. 
Body leng and low, depressed anteriorly, subterete medially, strongly compressed 
behind ; head large, broad and flattened above, the interorbital space wide and flattened ; 
eyes moderate, lateral, anterior; head above and behind eyes sealy; anterior nostrils 
each with a small barbel; middle of lower jaw with a long one; mouth large, some- 
what oblique, the upper jaw the longer; premaxillaries and lower jaw each with a 
band of slender, recurved, equal, cardiform teeth; vomer with a broad band of similar 
teeth, which extends backwards laterally; no canine teeth; palatines toothless; gill- 
membranes somewhat connected, free from the isthmus; branchiostegals 7 or 8; gill- 
rakers very short, dentate; scales very small, cycloid, imbedded in the skin; lateral 
line present; vertical fins scaly; dorsal fins two, separate, the first short, of 10 to 13 
well-developed rays; second dorsal very long, similar to anal; caudal fin distinct, 
rounded; ventrals slender, long, of about six rays; pectorals moderate, broad, A sin- 
gle species known, found in the fresh waters of Kurope and North America. 
168. Lora MacuLosa (LeSueur) Richardson. 
Lawyer; Ling; Burbot; Aleky Trout; Mother of Eels; Cusk; 
EKel-pout. 
Var. maculosa (American variety ). 
Gadus maculosa, LESUEUR, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., i, 1817, 83. 
Molva maculosa, LESUER, Mem. du Mus., 1819, 159. 
Lota maculosa, RICHARDSON, Fauna Bor.-Amer., 1236, 248.—KIRTLAND, Bost. Journ. Nat. 
 -—Hist., iv, 1842, 24—DrKay, New York Fauna, Fishes, ae 284.—BEAN, Science 
News, 1878, 42, and of most American writers. 
Gadus compressus, LESUEUR, Journ. Acad. Nat, Sci. Phila., i, 1817, 84. 
Lota compressus, STORER, Synopsis, 1846, 471. 
Gadus lacustris, MITCHILL, Amer. Month. Mag., ii, 1817, 244 (not of Walbaum). 
Molva huntia, LESuEUR, Mem. du Mus,, v, 1819, 161. 
Gadus lota, RICHARDSON, Franklin’s Journal], 1824, 74. 
Lota brosmiana, STORER, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist. iv, 1839, 58. 
Lota inornata, DEKay, New York Fauna, Fishes, 1842, 283. 
Lota lacustris, GILL, Canadian Naturalist, 1865.—JORDAN, Man. Vert., Ist Ed., and of 
several late writers (based on Gadus lacustris, WALBAUM ; a worthless description of 
some fish, more likely an Amiurus). . 
-Description.—Color dark-olive above, usually thickly marbled with blackish, some- 
times nearly plain brownish; belly yellowish or dusky; upper jaw longest; head 
broad, depressed; D. XIII, 76; A. 68; V.6o0r7. Length 1 to 2 feet. 
Habitat, Great Lake Reyion, and northward to Arctic Sea, Connecticut River, Hudson 
River, lakes of New York, Maine, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, Upper Mississippi, 
Missouri, etc, ; occasional in Ohio River. 
