232 THE WRASSE FAMILY. 



opaque brownish one occurs in front. The soft rays of this 

 fin have not yet attained the proportionately elongated con- 

 dition of the adult. The breast-fins (pectorals) are large and 

 somewhat transparent, their very rapid movements resembling 

 those of the sea-horse and the pipe-fishes. A brown bar, 

 however, marks their fleshy basal region, which in these and 

 many other post-larval fishes is much larger in proportion than 

 in the adult a condition probably connected with increased 

 functional activity. The ventral fins are opaque white, with a 

 brownish belt in front (anterior rays) ; this belt, moreover, 

 joins a brown band which proceeds upward to the base of the 

 pectorals, where it bends nearly at a right angle straight 

 backward to the posterior part of the abdominal wall. The 

 anal fin has a brown patch (covering two rays) in front. None 

 of the blue, yellow or orange, so common in the adult, has yet 

 appeared. 



After immersion in spirit only the dark pigment remains, 

 and thus the body has a peculiarly blotched or speckled appear- 

 ance posteriorly, while the head and abdomen are striped. 



It is interesting that species frequenting rocks, as the lump- 

 sucker and the present form, should display such vivid tints in 

 the post-larval and occasionally in the adult condition. 



At 12mm. (from Lochmaddy in August) the conspicuous 

 size of the last portion of the dorsal fin is noteworthy. The 

 lateral line is visible at 18 mm., and the scales are present. At 

 23 mm. both scales and lateral line are better marked, and many 

 of the adult characters have been assumed. All these are found 

 in August. 



THE CONNER. (Crenilabrus melops, L.) 



Mr Holt observed ripe eggs of the Corkwing Wrasse on the 

 12th June in Clifden Bay, on the west coast of Ireland. They 

 were colourless and translucent without an oil-globule, and 

 probably about 0'78 mm. In this and allied forms, List describes 

 the capsule as divisible into two layers, an outer of regular hex- 

 agonal prisms, an inner stratified. The larva on hatching has 

 a marked cranial flexure and a long pre-anal fin; while the yolk 



