260 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



served and watched until some became detached and were 

 free in the water ; and by a very interesting process of criti- 

 cal investigation, the fish itself being too small for identifica- 

 tion, it was ascertained, mainly through the structure of the 

 pigment-cells, that they belonged to a small species, quite 

 common in the Gulf Stream, known as Chironectes pictus. In 

 this genus the pectoral fins are supported on arm-like ap- 

 pendages, giving them the power of hands; a somewhat 

 similar structure in some allied forms enabling them, when 

 thrown on the shore, to walk or crawl back leisurely into the 

 water. 



It is somewhat remarkable that these eggs should have 

 been found in the month of December, when the great major- 

 ity of species lay their eggs in early spring. It is possible 

 that Chironectes pictus may be an exception to the general 

 rule. 



A scarcely less interesting peculiarity is seen in regard to 

 the eggs of the goose-fish, or the common fishing-frog, of the 

 Atlantic coast. This is an extremely hideous-looking species, 

 shaped like a much-depressed tadpole, with an enormous head 

 and huge mouth, and sometimes weighing from fifty to one 

 hundred pounds. It is known to naturalists as Lophius 

 americanus. 



The eggs of this species are contained in an immense flat 

 sheet of mucus, sometimes thirty or forty feet long, and 

 twelve to fifteen inches wide, which, when floating along the 

 surface of the ocean, resembles nothing so much as a lady's 

 brown veil. The mucus is so tenacious as to admit of being 

 wrapped around an oar and dragged on board a vessel, but 

 is extremely slippery, and readily escapes from one's grasp. 

 The eggs, or embryos, are disseminated throughout this sheet 

 at the rate often to twenty to the square inch, and by their 

 brownish color tend to give the impression just referred to. 

 The number of eggs in one of these sheets is enormous, in 

 some instances exceeding a million. Letter of Professor 

 Agassiz to Professor Peirce. 



ANOTHER PELAGIC FISH-NEST. 



Mr. J. Matthew Jones, who was engaged for many years in 

 the investigation of the natural history of the Bermudas, and 

 who has just returned to Halifax from a recent visit to the 



