202 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



and at no season was the roe ever found with ripe eggs. Finally a few fish 

 were found with ripe ovaries, but all very large, over 15 inches in length, and 

 all from pounds set out at sea off Cape Henry and Virginia Beach. This was 

 in the spring. The ripest ova were studied and, from the size, transparency, 

 oil drops, etc., it was decided that the early development was pelagic and 

 that it took place in the spring and summer. 



While in Naples, Italy, Dr. A. Cerruti, of the Zoological Station, very kindly 

 gave me his information, collected at periods during many years and with 

 unusual facilities, concerning the breeding habits of Uranoscopus scaher, an 

 allied form which so closely resembles Astroscopus in external form and color 

 that the average non-professional person can not tell the two apart. Also, 

 its habits of life coincide with those of Astroscopus, although it has no electric 

 organ. 



As explained by Dr. Cerruti, Uranoscopus lays a pelagic egg which at once 

 floats from the bottom, where it is deposited, to the surface, where it rapidly 

 forms an embryo that lives on the surface for many weeks and months. The 

 young fish attains a considerable size while living here, the largest one caught 

 by the station's tow-nets being over 30 mm. in length and being a very solid, 

 heavy fish for this length. It looked much like the adult in general, although 

 one could see that it was distinctly larval in structure and color. 



It was now hoped that the same was true of Astroscopus and extensive tow- 

 ing work was undertaken in an effort to secure the desired stages. Also, 

 through the kindness of Dr. Henry Bigelow, of the Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology at Harvard University, and of Dr. W. W. Welsh and Dr. L. Rad- 

 cliffe, of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, the results of townng by the steamer 

 Fish Hawk and schooner Grampus were examined, and from all these sources 

 a few embryos of different sizes w^ere secured, from which the general course 

 of development of the electric organ can be worked out. 



The life history of this fish can be described very roughly as follows : They 

 inhabit the Atlantic Coast of America, from the neighborhood of New York 

 south. Two species have been described, guttatus, north of Cape Hatteras, 

 and y-grcecum, south of Norfolk, Virginia. It seems to the writer, however, 

 that these are varieties which interbreed whenever they come in contact. The 

 southern limits of the form are not defined. It is found on the Gulf shores 

 and the eastern coast of Panama. A third species is found on the Pacific 

 coast of Panama and Mexico. 



On the Delaware and Virginia coasts the fish is most abundant in the larger 

 bays and sounds, from very small up to 12 to 13 inches in size; on the outer 

 beaches, from small up to over 20 inches in size. During the winter they are 

 "bedded" or very quiet, but when spring comes, all fish of breeding size, 

 which appears to be over 15 inches long, work offshore and the eggs are laid 

 at sea and float to the surface. This probably occurs in May and June and 

 possibly is continued to a much later period. Further south it occurs earlier 

 and may be as early as January and February in Florida and the Gulf of 

 Mexico. 



The egg is one of the largest pelagic fish eggs and rapidly hatches, yielding 

 a young larva of short, stubby build, with much black pigment. This larva 

 lives on the surface, well offshore (5 to 60 miles) , for a period of several months, 

 growing to a length of over 30 mm. and gradually working inshore. The form 

 and color of this larva in its older stages make it readily recognizable as a 

 young Astroscopus. 



Toward the latter part of the summer the young fish, now over an inch in 

 length, move from the surface down to the bottom and seek the sand, in which 

 they burrow and spend the rest of their lives. One fish was taken which 



