﻿THE SCULl'lX AM) ITS HA HITS 



357 



Fig. si. — Sculpin egg 

 developing (after Ehren- 

 baum). 



hold and fans the eggs to secure aerification. Ehrenbaum has given 

 a characteristic illustration (see plate xlix, 2). 



The extruded eggs vary from pink " to roseate, orange, straw- 

 color, and deep red." Their diameter ranges from 1.5 to 2 milli- 

 meters. " The capsule is thick, tough, and 

 resistant, and shows the facets or processes 

 by which it adheres to surrounding eggs; 

 it appears minutely punctured, under a 

 high power, the punctures having as a 

 rule, a more regular (linear) arrangement 

 than in the Lumpsucker." The yolk has a 

 variable number of oil-globules which ulti- 

 mately coalesce into a single large one. 

 The development depends on temperature 

 and two or three months may elapse before any eggs are hatched. 



VII 



The newly hatched larva is about a third of an inch (about 8 milli- 

 meters) long. " The yolk forms a comparatively small prominence 

 ventrally, and the large oil-globule lies at its 

 front inferiorly " ; " the mouth is open, but 

 the lower jaw is at first immovable." In 

 about two days after hatching articulation 

 for the jaw supervenes. The larvae are 

 soon carried to the surface of the water 

 and " swarms " may be " occasionally cap- 

 tured in the surface tow-nets, as in the 

 Forth " in Scotland in March and April. 

 When six clays old, the young fishes are 

 about eight or nine millimeters long and " the yolk has diminished, 

 while the oil-globule has been elevated to the gullet." 



For some time the growth of the young is slow and the length 

 mav even diminish in the course of losing its larval and assuming its 



Fig. 52. — Sculpin egg 

 with larva (after Ehren- 

 baum). 



Fig. 53. — Sculpin larva just hatched (after Ehrenbaum). 



post-larval condition. " On the seventh day " Mcintosh found that 

 they measured only *' /•/ " millimeters long and " during the two or 

 three subsequent days the pigment made great progress." One, a 



