202 THE BLENNY FAMILY. 



firmly together by reason of a secretion extruded from the 

 parent. They only adhere at limited parts of the egg-capsule, 

 so that aeration through the mass is easily effected. Their 

 deposition in large masses doubtless facilitates their fertilization 

 by the male. In size they closely approximate those of the 

 salmon; and indeed until quite recently they were commonly 

 mistaken by fishermen and others for those of the latter fish. 

 Each egg is opaque, of a pale straw-colour with an opalescent 

 hue, roughly spherical and about '23 inch in diameter (o'o to 

 6 mm.). From this it will be seen that it is the largest marine 

 demersal egg with which we are at present acquainted. The 

 capsule is thick, strong and minutely punctured. In each egg 

 is a single large oil-globule with a diameter of about '068 inch 

 (175 mm.). It usually floats in the part of each egg which is 

 uppermost, a common feature of demersal eggs. 



The early stages of the embryos inside the eggs are yet 

 undescribed ; the eggs received at the St Andrews Marine 

 Laboratory in the second week of January, 1886 ', containing 

 already well-advanced embryos with silvery eyes, and pigment 

 in the anterior dorsal region. There were also a number of 

 prominent blood-vessels in connection with the yolk, to facili- 

 tate its absorption ; a feature absent in most pelagic embryos. 

 The larva? (Plate VIII, fig. 1), hatched about a week later, 

 were as much as '47 inch (12 mms.) in length. The body 

 at this stage is translucent and slender. The yolk is straw- 

 coloured with a dull oil-globule situated at the anterior extremity 

 of the yolk-sac, a unique position, so far as known, amongst 

 British forms, though one or two Mediterranean species have 

 an oil-globule anterior in position ; and so with the Com- like 

 form of Mr Holt. The larva? rest mostly back upwards, the 

 body of the fish appearing like a long appendage of the large 

 quiescent spherical mass of yolk, which raises the former well 

 above the sea-floor. 



This larva, the largest British marine Teleostean larva yet 

 described, has been compared and contrasted with that of the 

 largest British freshwater fish, namely the salmon-. 



1 Mclntosh and Prince, p. 874. 



2 Op. cit. 



