143 



1 hope to make out more details by sectioning the material, 

 which seems sufficiently well preserved for this purpose. 



This is not the ftrst time that evidence has been secured that 

 some deep sea hshes are viviparous. Several species have been 

 found with anal papillae, presumabh' male sexual organs, and 

 Alcock has definitely established the fact in his important discov- 

 ery of embryos in the eggs of Saccogastcr. He has also suggested 

 that the embr}'os may, when hatched out, procure in some way 

 means of subsistence from the surrounding ova. The present case 

 of comparatively large larvae, which from their size and develop- 

 ment have apparently existed some considerable time in the 

 ovarian sac after hatching, is a further step in the solution of the 

 problem, and the fact that in those advanced larvae the yolk 

 sac was completely absorbed, the intestinal tract vv'as fairly well 

 developed, and oil globules were found in their mouth and 

 oesophagus, seems to indicate some confirmation of Alcock's 

 hypothesis, and, further, that there is no special organ for ab- 

 sorption of these eggs, but that nourishment is taken in by the 

 mouth. Before finding the small larva in the coils of another 

 of much larger size, apparently in the act of devouring it, I was 

 inclined to believe that the egg capsule, though tough, was in 

 some way broken down, allowing the contents to escape. This 

 case, however, seems to indicate that the larger larvae live 

 on the smaller or those just hatched, the scattered oil globules 

 found being tnose from the ruptured yolk sac of the younger 

 larvae. This is quite in keeping witli the fact of there being so 

 few larvae in proportion to the number of the eggs, and it would 

 be easy to construct a probable life history of an -embryo from 

 the time of hatching to birth should it be one of the few that 

 only can survive to that period. 



(d) Species zvith No Oil Globules. 



SPECIES XVIIL 



On the 14th November, 1903, seven eggs, characterised by their 

 small size (•76-72 mm.) were procured in a surface tow-net in 

 False Bay. No oil globules were present. There were embryos 

 in each, fairly well developed, being a little over half the circum- 

 ference of the egg. Distinct black dots occurred along the body, 

 but no yellow pigment, either on embryo or yolk. Kiippffer's 

 vesicle was present at this stage. The embryos hatched out on 

 the following da>-. There were a few black dots along the back 

 of the body, and faint yellow pigment over the body, fins, and 

 yolk. Clear dots occurred abundantly on fins, especially towards 

 their margin. The notochord was unicolumnar, the rectum 

 anterior, and the total length 1-74 mm. Fig. 47 is a drawing 



