IN THE SOUTH-WESTEHN DISTRICT. 147 



Bay. As it is not a shore species, it is quite impossible to say whether 

 it is common or rare, since rockling can keep out of the way of ordinary 

 fishing gear. I do not know to what extent we are justified in sup- 

 posing that the ova and larvie of the rocklings resemble each other. I 

 certainly imagine that M. cwibria in its young stages resembles M. 

 mustela and M. tricirrata , but M. macvlata is a much larger and 

 more brilliantly coloured fish. It is possibly, though not, as I think, 

 very probably, the parent of the larva before us. 



Phycis Ucnnioidcs is regarded by the local fishermen as rare. I do 

 not know any reason why it should not be often caught, if common. It 

 is a deep-water fish on our coasts, but I have known one taken in 

 Kenmare Bay in Ireland, and another was trawled here in Cawsand 

 Bay some years ago, so that the species cannot be exclusively confined 

 to deep water. Nothing is known of its ova and larvffi. The larva 

 with which we are dealing shows an elevation of the dorsal fin, accom- 

 panied by pigment ; a condition sometimes associated with the 

 development of a filamentous ray, such as Phycis possesses in front 

 of the first dorsal. Most of our ova were taken some way outside 

 the Breakwater, though one occurred, on the ebb, in Cawsand Bay. 

 I do not think that the balance of the evidence points very strongly 

 to Phycis as the parent. 



It must, in any case, be borne in mind that our records cover only a 

 single year, and that, in certain features, an exceptional one. Mackerel 

 were present in the inshore waters of Plymouth in the summer and 

 autumn in very unusual quantity. " Mackerel Britt," that is to say 

 young sprats and probably other young Clupeoids also, and scad old 

 and young were also exceedingly abundant. Whether the young 

 sprats were more abundant than usual I have no means of knowing, 

 but whatever cause induced the influx of mackerel may have influenced 

 other fish as well, while predaceous forms may have followed the 

 mackerel. It is therefore quite possible that our ova and larvie may 

 belong to some species which does not usually occur, at any rate in the 

 spawning season, in the neighbourhood of Plymouth. Their occurrence 

 or absence in succeeding years may throw some light on this point. 



