544 Transactions. 



as in the case of the flounders, it seemed as if the fish were unable 

 to extrude their ova in the shallow water of the ponds, or else 

 that the low temperature of the pond- water affected them ad- 

 versely. 



On the 17th August of this year Mr. Anderton was out again 

 in the trawler, and obtained several thousand ova. Many female 

 fish taken were found to be spent, and ripe males were abundant. 

 On this date, while the water at the hatching-ponds was at 5° C, 

 that of the open sea at 18 fathoms depth was 10° C. More ova 

 were obtained on the 20th August, and altogether about 250,000 

 eggs were got. 



The egg of this species is about 0-8 mm. in diameter 

 (Plate LV, figs, a-f), and contains from eight to eleven oil- 

 globules. The minute structure was not studied. 



About the fourth day after fertilisation the black pigment 

 spots began to show, and by the following day the outline of the 

 embryo was distinctly visible. On the seventh day the black 

 and yellow spots of the young embryo were uniformly distributed, 

 and the larvae began to hatch out on the ninth day. The tem- 

 perature all this time remained low, varying from 2 '8° to 4 "8° C. 

 These larvae were reared till their tenth day, by which time the 

 yolk-sac was nearly absorbed, and they were then turned out into 

 the harbour. Altogether about 168,000 were liberated. These 

 results are very small and fragmentary, but it has to be borne 

 in mind that they were achieved by one worker, who was daily 

 occupied with all the ordinary routine duties of the station, and 

 who had had no previous experience of the work. 



Blue-cod (Parapercis colias, Forster). 



Eggs of this species were obtained from some fish in the ponds 

 about the end of October and beginning of November, 1904. 

 The egg is a floating one, having a diameter of 1 -05 mm. 



The eggs hatched out in about three days, and the larvae were 

 reared till about a week old, by which time the yolk-sac was 

 almost completely absorbed, and the fry were swimming about 

 freely and feeding. At that time the store-tank water was un- 

 usable on account of the lime present in it, and thus it was ex- 

 t remely difficult to keep experimental jars and small tanks going, 

 hence no further attempt was made to study the development 

 of these few larvae. The approximate date of spawning and 

 the length of time taken to hatch out being ascertained, it was 

 realised that the experiment could be resumed with more pro- 

 spect of success on a future occasion. 



A very interesting experiment was made in connection with 

 these fish. About three dozen were obtained on the 11th October 

 last year, in about 30 fathoms of water off Cape Saunders, and 



