THE BERGYLT-FAMILY. 121 



Ekstrom and Smitt observe 1 that the male is generally 

 rarer than the female. The eggs are fertilized internally and 

 developed on the walls of the ovaries. Collet considered the 

 number of eggs in a female 550 mm. long (21'5 inches) to be 

 about 148,000. Ryder, however, estimates the number of 

 embryos in each ovary to be about 1000, and thus it is pro- 

 bable that only a portion of the eggs arrives at maturity at 

 the same time 2 . He also believes he had found an abundant 

 covering of flat, fleshy and highly vascular processes which to 

 some extent corresponds to the maternal placenta of verte- 

 brates. Ekstrom frequently had one of both sexes forwarded 

 to him, and therefore he was inclined to think the fish 

 monogamous. He found the embryos far advanced at the end 

 of May, while Kroyer stated they left their parent in July 

 when they are from 3 to 5 mm. in length, and swam near the 

 surface. In the same month (July) they reach from 9 to 

 19 mm. in length, and are captured in the surface-nets. They 

 soon, however, seek the lower regions of the water. 



In an example procured from the Moray Frith the surface 

 of the ovary was furnished with a vast number of villous 

 processes, smaller and finer than those in the viviparous 

 blenny. They were more or less digitate, lobed processes, 

 which presented numerous small blood-vessels and various 

 minute ova ranging from '0762 mm., or under, to about 

 '2286 mm. The larger forms of these projected from the 

 surface either as sessile or pedicled processes, and their sub- 

 sequent history is probably closely analogous with that of the 

 viviparous blenny, the numerous long vascular processes, amidst 

 which they were, having formerly carried developing ova from 

 which the embryos had now escaped. The free embryos in the 

 ovarian chamber were all of the same size, viz. 4'9 mm., and 

 generally had the body bent round on the yolk, some of which 

 still remained. The eyes were deeply pigmented, and black 

 chromatophores occurred along the roof of the abdomen, dorsally 

 along the edge of the muscle-plates, and ventrally to a less 

 extent in the caudal region, the pigment of the dorsal line 



1 Scand. Fishex, p. 152. 



2 See Ryder, Bull. U.S. Fish Com. Vol. vi. (1866), p. 92. 



