THE SEA FISHERIES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 83 
In the investigations before the British Fishery Commission as to the 
injurious effects of the beam trawl-net, much stress was laid upon its 
destructiveness to the spawn of fish, notably that of the cod, mackerel, 
plaice, turbot, and other species. Ample evidence, however, was ad- 
duced, both within the knowledge of Professor Huxley and from relia- 
ble investigations by Sars and others, that the ova of most of the im- 
portant sea fishes are discharged in the open sea and float in it until 
the young fish escapes from the shell. Sars found this to be the case 
when visiting the Lofoden Islands for the purpose of this investiga- 
tion, a conclusion absolutely contrary to his previous opinions. Nothing 
struck him with greater astonishment than the immense number of 
eggs, either containing embryos or emptied of them, which were to be 
met with in every direction, these. being thickly scattered in the waters 
over many square miles. 
Bag pete seers 12? 
following list of what he calls pelagic spawners, or Hiese the eggs of which are found 
floating freely in the sea: 

The common Sea Perch. The Mackerel. 
The Tautog. The Striped Bass. 
Five or six species of Flounders. One species of Cottus. 
The Silverside or Atherina. The Goosefish or Lophius. 
The Butterfish. The Cod. 
The Menhaden. The Hake or Phycis. 
Most of these were observed by him in the vicinity of Nantucket and afew at New- 
port. The time of the spawning of these fish, as noted by. him, was as follows: 
The Flounders, from June to early September. 
The Perch and Tauiog, the last of June and early in July. 
The Cod, in August. 
The Hake (Phycis), from June to September ; the young of all stages swinming on 
the surface. 
The Sea Bass, recently hatched young seen from July to September, 
Menhaden, August and September. 
Atherina, June and July. 
Cottus, July to September. 
Butterfish, July to September. 
Lophius, June and early July. 
The eggs of these several species vary in size from the .06 to the .03 of an inch in 
diameter. He finds the young are easily identified by the pigment cells, the oil bub- 
bles in the egg, the position of the yolk-bag, the extent of the development of the 
eyes, and the character of the fins. The only sea fishes whose eggs he knows are de- 
posited on the ground are the Batrachus tau, or Toadfish, and some of the Cottoids, 
As the result of his extended inquiries on the subject, as secretary of the British 
commission, Holdsworthy thinks that the herring comes shoreward to spawn, but 
that the eggs may be emitted at a considerable distance from the coast. The eggs 
are discharged near the bottom and cover the gravel or sea-weed with a kind of cake, 
which is then immediately milted by the male. 
According to observers on our own coast, herring, when spawning, are sometimes 
in pairs; at others, a large number of both sexes appear to join together, the females 
discharging their eggs almost simultaneously and the males their milt, in such quan- 
tity as to whiten the water. 
The Pilchard, a clupeoid fish, second in importance in England according to Holds- 
_ worthy, certainly spawns in cies water, and then both the adults and the young ap- 
Pach the shore. 
