THE SEA-SCORPION-FAMILY. 123 



as pelagic, a feature very different from those of our country, 

 and probably requiring corroboration. Whether he had the 

 condition of Scorpcena with its ovoid floating mass of mucus 

 and eggs in view is unknown. On the east coast, as at St 

 Andrews, the eggs of this fish occur abundantly in March 

 attached to stones, tangle-roots, old shoes, tin vessels, and, 

 indeed, almost anything convenient. They are found again 

 somewhat earlier (February) at Gairloch and other parts on the 

 west coast. The authors of the Scandinavian Fishes broach 

 the idea that the roe of this fish may be fertilised before de- 

 position, and suggest that the serrations on the inside of the 

 breast-fins may be useful to the males for this purpose. There 

 is no reason to suppose that in Britain the eggs are so 

 fertilised ; on the contrary, it is evident that they are not 

 fertilised before deposition. As an example we may take a 

 female observed shortly after the opening of the St Andrews 

 Marine Laboratory 1 . This specimen, whose abdomen was 

 distended, had been isolated in a glass vessel, so that its 

 movements were somewhat limited ; and it is probable, there- 

 fore, that the deposition may have been hastened. It had 

 been observed to be somewhat restless the previous day ; and 

 on the 1st March it rested quietly on the bottom of the vessel, 

 and in a few seconds deposited a mass (as large as a duck's 

 egg) of faintly pinkish eggs, keeping its breast-fins in active 

 motion during the process, and then it dashed through the 

 water, sending some of the eggs over the edge of the vessel. 

 The mass of eggs, at first quite soft, though cohering to- 

 gether by a secretion, soon harden, the capsules adhering 

 by facets to each other as in the lump-sucker, so that the 

 egg-mass (Plate I, fig. 6) resembles a spongy structure into 

 which water freely enters, and is retained in considerable 

 quantity even though the eggs are uncovered by the tide, a 

 provision of some importance. They vary in colour from that 

 first mentioned to roseate, orange, straw-colour, and deep 

 red, and have a diameter of about 1'5 mm. to 2 mm. (Holt). 

 The capsule is thick, tough, and resistant, and shows the facets 

 or processes by which it adheres to surrounding eggs (Plate I, 

 1 W. C. M. 3rd Ann. S.F.B. Report, p. 59, and Uth Ann. Report, p. 181. 



