154 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Society of London, 1 there seems still to be some diversity 

 of opinion. This question, however, does not need to be 

 discussed here. The point of interest in the following 

 remarks is rather the fact that Copepods are found in the 

 nostrils of fishes, living apparently on the mucus they contain. 



I have found free-moving (not fixed) Copepods in the 

 nostrils of the following fishes : The Lumpsucker (Cyclop- 

 terns lumpus] ; Cod (Gadus callarius) ; Whiting (Gadus 

 merlangus) ; Pollack (Gadus pollacJiius] ; Plaice (Pleuronectes 

 platessa) ; and Flounder (Pleuronectes flesus). All the Cope- 

 pods that have hitherto been observed in the nostrils of these 

 fishes belong to the genus Bomolochus\ which was instituted 

 by Professor Alex, von Nordmann in 1832 for a Copepod 

 found on the gills of a fish from the Red Sea, and which is 

 now known as Boinolochus parvulus, Nordmann. 2 On the 

 other hand, the specimens obtained in the nostrils of the 

 fishes I have mentioned appear all to belong to a species 

 described by Professor Claus under the name of Bomolochus 

 solecE, from specimens which had been found on the Sole (Solea 

 vulgaris). I am not sure as to what part of the Sole the 

 specimens described by Professor Claus were taken from ; 

 but I may state that several years ago one or two specimens 

 of a Copepod supposed to belong to Claus' species were 

 found adhering to the coloured side of a Sole captured in 

 the Humber near Grimsby. It may also be stated that 

 there is in part iii. of the " Eleventh Annual Report of the 

 Fishery Board for Scotland " a description, with drawings, 

 of a specimen of the same Copepod species which was 

 found amongst some dredged material collected in the 

 Fluke Hole off St. Monans, Firth of Forth, in 1892. 



The genus Bomolochus belongs to the Ergasilidae, a 

 family which contains two other genera besides the one 

 mentioned, viz. Ergasilus, Nordmann ; and Thersites, Pagen- 

 stecher. Dr. Basset Smith has published an excellent paper 

 in the " Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London " 

 for April 1899, in which he gives a " Systematic Description 

 of Parasitic Copepoda found on Fishes." The number of 



1 "On the Presence of Nasal Secretory Sacs and a Naso-pharyngeal Com- 

 munication in Teleostei," by H. M. Kyle, M.A. ("Journ. Linn. Soc.," Zool., 

 vol. xxvii. p. 451 et seq., April 1900). 



2 " Mikrographische Beitrage," Zweites Heft, p. 135 (1832). 



