ox THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIMULUS LOXGISPINA. 55 



While I was looking about, my attention was caught by peculiar 

 markings on the shore, such as are represented in tig. 1. On a close 

 examination these markings proved to be the tracks of the spawning 

 kahutogani. They consisted of a number of small roundish elevations 

 (about 35 cm. in diameter) stretching in a line, which is always per- 

 pendicular to the coast-line and never p;u-allel with it. The length of 

 tlie line is l|-4 m. 



The elevations are highest at one extremity and become gradually 

 lower towards the other. The higher end is the spot where the kahuto- 

 gani began egg-laying. Xear the end of spawning, the legs of the 

 female animal are no doubt tired, so that she cannot cover en'ji's with as 

 much sand as at the beginning of the operation. Tlie lower end of 

 tlie spawn is often lost in scratches from legs, which sIkjw that tlie 

 direction of movement has been from the higher to the lower end. 

 The higher end may be either near to or away from the shore. From 

 this fact we may conclude that the hahatogani in depositing eggs 

 proceeds either towards <jr away from the shore. Tiie latter will pro- 

 b;ibly l)e the case when the spawning begins at the time of tlie reced- 

 ing tide, and the former when it begins at the time of the rising tide. 



Under each elevation of the spawn there are about one thousand 

 eggs aggregated and compressed together into a mass. Tlie mass of 

 eggs is not phiced just under the centre of each elevation, but is 

 deposited eitlier to the left or t») the right side of tlie median line of 

 the whole spawn. On digging out one whole series of a spawn, I 

 observed that in the hif^her half of it the ef;-o--mass deviated towards 



O Co 



the left side, and in the lower half towards the riglit side. I'^-um 

 tin's I coMchided that in this case the kahutogani deposited the eggs of 

 tlu' Icii o\ary first, and then tliosc of the right ovary. 



As eggs are easily washed (jut by waves, it is very difticult to 

 obtain them in their later stages. E\en when not washed out, the 



