44 I'KELIMINAHY NOTKS ON TIIK UEPUODUCTION OF TELEOSTEAN 



embryonic rays occurring basally in this part. The pectoral fin is of 

 the usual fan-like type, and of the ordinary dimensions. The otocyst is 

 smaller than the eye, which is pigmented and obviously functional. 

 The gape is of moderate extent, the lower jaw, as usual, slightly 

 projecting. 



Older stages of this larva seem to me to be represented by a number 

 of examples taken in the bottom tow-net about two miles olf Fowey 

 river, on the 29th and 30th June. I did not measure, nor very closely 

 examine, any of these in the fresh condition. None were alive when 

 the nets came on deck, so that the present dimensions of the smallest 

 are no doubt less than the original, since young fish-larvse always 

 shrink unless they are actually killed in a suitable fixing medium. 

 At present the dimensions, roughly measured, are from 5 to 6*5 mm. 



The smallest specimens agree with the oldest of those which I reared 

 from the egg in the distribution and arrangement of the black pigment, 

 and in the general conformation, allowing for the difference in age. 

 Thus the trunk is somewhat deeper, and the flexure of the caudal 

 extremity (by hypural development) more accentuated. The rostral 

 prominence is no longer conspicuous.* Yellow pigment, if present, was 

 not a prominent feature, and its disappearance is in accordance with the 

 known developmental phases of other species. 



From this stage the series passes without a break to the largest 

 example, which measures 6*0 mm. in total length, of which "90 mm. 

 is occupied by the caudal fin, and about 1*50 by the head. The greatest 

 height of the body, without vertical fins, is 1-25 mm. In general 

 conformation the larva bears some resemblance to a Labrus, save that 

 the anterior profile is more rounded. The mouth is large, the snout 

 shorter than the eye, which measures '54 in horizontal diameter. The 

 body is laterally compressed, but the dorsal and ventral profiles are 

 still nearly parallel, and not arched, as in the adult: posteriorly the 

 tail tapers rather rapidly, but the caudal peduncle is, nevertheless, of 

 considerable vertical width. The caudal fin is almost completely 

 " homocercal." The dorsal and anal fins are represented by embryonic 

 rays. 



Of yellow pigment I saw none in the fresh condition, but black 

 chromatophores are abundant, and very strikingly distributed. A 

 sheet of stellate chromatophores, irregularly arranged in about ten 

 longitudinal rows, clothes the side of the fish from the shoulder girdle 

 to the hind end of the (permanent) anal fin. Dorsally the sheet does 

 not extend quite so far, as its hind margin is oblique. Its dorsal 



* In Callionymus an approach to the rostral i)roniineucc of tlie adult lias l)ecn noted in 

 the early larva, but is shown to become masked in subsequent stages, to reappear willi the 

 linal assumption of the adult characters (Cf. Trans. A*. Dub. 6'oc., v., ii., pi. iii.). 



