THE FLOUNDER FAMILY. 321 



the ova of almost all the other pleuronectids except the halibut 

 had been examined. These ova are especially abundant on the 

 fishing-grounds to the east of the Island of May. So far as our 

 experience goes, they chiefly abound in March, rarely a few 

 occur in February, and in all probability, though nearly ripe, 

 none are discharged before January. Off the west coast of 

 Ireland Mr Holt found the adults spawning during the same 

 months, viz., from March to the beginning of May. 



It is remarkable that the obscurity surrounding the eggs of 

 so common a fish should have remained so long. In a recent 

 Scandinavian work 1 nothing more definite than hearsay 

 evidence is afforded, though the statement of the fishermen of 

 Bohuslan that the roe runs in February, and that the fish is 

 spent by the month of March, is near the truth. Moreover, 

 comparatively small specimens, both male and female, attain 

 maturity. 



By the energy of Dr Fulton, a large consignment of living 

 specimens was forwarded to the St Andrews Laboratory in ex- 

 cellent condition in the spring of 1895, so that an opportunity 

 was given for a re-examination of the development of this 

 species as described by one of us in the Fishery Board Report 

 of that year 2 . The ripe females ranged from 7 to 13 

 inches, and all were distended with the enlarged ovaries. 

 Moreover, as they lay on the dark bottom of the tank, the 

 prominent ovarian region of the coloured surface was readily 

 distinguishable as a broad pale pinkish streak. Some of the 

 females were also marked with white touches, generally in pairs 

 over the interspinous regions dorsally and ventrally, very much 

 in the position the dark touches hold in the pelagic post-larval 

 forms. The males, on the other hand, were much smaller, 

 ranging from 5] to 6f in. in total length, and presenting little 

 or no distension, a fact due to the minute size of the testes, 

 which were wholly confined to the abdominal cavity, and were 

 only about ^ to f of an inch in length in a male of 6f inches. 

 No larger male occurred in this collection, which consisted of 

 nearly sixty specimens, so that the question may be raised as to 



1 Scandinavian Fishes, Fries, Ekstrom and Snndevall. 2nd Edit., 1893. 

 - W. C. M. 13th Report, S. F. B. p. 220. 



M. F. 21 



