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Notes and Memoranda. 



On a Specimen of Leptocephalus Morrisii. — During the first week 

 of June of the present year, a specimen of Leptocephalus was brought 

 to the Laboratory by a boy, who had found it under a stone on the 

 shore, in a small cove in front of the building. The beach in 

 this cove consists of broken fragments of limestone. The specimen 

 was alive when brought up, and was preserved in formaldehyde. 

 "When I examined it a few weeks later it was entire and in excellent 

 condition, and retained its transparency to a considerable degree in the 

 preserving liquid. The specimen is 11.25 cm. long (4Hn.); the greatest 

 dorso- ventral breadth of the body, a little behind the anus, is 7 mm. ; 

 the breadth in the same direction at the back of the head is 5 mm. 

 The dorsal line rises slightly behind the head. From the tip of the 

 lower jaw to the anus the distance is 5.25 cm., from the tip of the 

 snout to the commencement of the dorsal fin is 3.6 cm. Thus the 

 point at which the dorsal fin commences is nearer to the anus than 

 to the pectoral fin, although, in the fully developed conger, the dorsal fin 

 extends forwards to a point in front of the posterior extremity of the 

 pectorals. In this respect the larval form more resembles the adult 

 common eel {Anguilla) than its own parent. The greatest lateral 

 thickness of the body is just behind the head, and does not exceed 

 2 mm. Behind the anus it is narrower still. The head, however, is 

 not much compressed laterally, but is rather broad, and flat on the 

 dorsal surface. The length of the head is 8 mm., measured from the 

 tip of the snout to the gill opening ; its breadth is 3 mm. ; its vertical 

 height at the level of the eyes, 4 mm. In characters the head resembles 

 that of the conger very closely. The eyes are large, the exposed front 

 being silvery, except along the dorsal edge, where there is a streak of 

 black pigment. The anterior tubular nostrils and the posterior open 

 ones are present, as in the conger, and the gill opening is a reduced 

 slit in front of the base of the pectoral, as in the latter. The upper 

 jaw is a little longer than the lower, and the angle of the mouth is 

 below the middle of the eye. No bones can be seen in the interior 

 of the body by this examination of the entire animal without further 



