THE SAND-EEL FAMILY. 305 



Many of those captured at Elie were 12 and 13 inches long, 

 and the food present in the stomach consisted in most cases of 

 a single adult lesser sand-eel, which fitted neatly into the 

 elongated stomach head first. 



THE LESSER SAND-EEL. (Ammodytes tobianus, L.) 



The lesser sand-eel appears to be the more common form at 

 St Andrews 1 , and indeed all round the shores of Britain. 



It occurs in great assemblages inshore. As regards the 

 time of breeding there is considerable divergence of opinion. 

 Day found the lesser sand-eel in August and September with 

 the 'roe advanced'; and Couch fixes the end of December as 

 the spawning-season ; indeed from the tenor of his remarks it 

 is possible that he had actually observed the shedding of the 

 spawn during, as he says, ' about the shortest days of the year.' 

 On the other hand numerous observers give the months of 

 May and June as the spawning-season, which may also ex- 

 tend into July (Thompson). In St Andrews Bay the end of 

 December and January appear to be the chief months for 

 oviposition. 



Small males, none of which exceeded 6 inches in length, 

 were common, but no ripe females were dug out of the sand in 

 their company in May during former years. The ovaries pre- 

 sented only minute transparent, granular ova with a large 

 nucleus. Some, however, were considerably larger than others. 

 The larger eggs had a granular yolk with many small oil- 

 globules. 



On the other hand, ripe forms in a free condition have been 

 found in May; and in the beginning of July they were captured 

 in numbers at Elie by sand-eel nets, and many ripe eggs were 

 found in the sand on the bottom of the boats along with ripe 

 milt both of which had escaped from the adult fishes. 



In drawing inferences from the known facts, we thus have 

 one or two alternatives to accept : the first of these is that the 

 lesser sand-eel spawns indiscriminately from December to May, 



1 Vide W. C. M. 9th Kept. S. F. IL p. 331, PI. XIII. 

 M. F. 20 



