430 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [4] 



the 23(1 of April, and for the hist time on the 11th of May, were scat- 

 tered freely over the bottom aud did uot adhere to any objects. 



We found large and small eggs of different kinds mixed. Some of 

 the small eggs, having a diameter of about 0.93 millimeter, contained 

 in their inside a yellow or yellowish-brown drop of fat; but we also 

 found some larger eggs, measuring as much as 1.3 millimeters in diam- 

 eter, seemingly of the same kind, and probably belonging to a species 

 closely related to the former. Occasionally we found in these eggs sev- 

 eral drops of fat instead of one. Other eggs, as to their size, homogene- 

 ity of contents, librous appearance of the shell, and colorless appear- 

 ance of the yolk, strongly resembled the eggs of the plaice. We finally 

 found small colorless eggs, without fat, measuring 1.15-1.27 millimeters, 

 which proved to be eggs of the flounder. As I ascertained at a later 

 date, similar eggs, having a diameter of 0.85 and 0.9 millimeter, and 

 the considerable specific gravity of 1.020, are found in May; these are 

 the eggs of Platessa limanda. 



At the same time that we investigated the bottom, which only yielded 

 any result outside of the bay, we scoured the surface. During the same 

 period we here found two kinds of eggs, one with yellow drops of fat, 

 not distinguishable from the larger eggs of the same kind found at the 

 bottom, and a second kind, having a diameter of 1.24 millimeters, and 

 without drops of fat, but characterized by the circumstance that the 

 yolk appeared broken by even planes crossing each other almost at right 

 angles. 



These different eggs were hatched, with the following results : From 

 the two kinds of eggs containing drops of fat there slipped small fish 

 having a deep black pigment, and measuring at most 2.43 millimeters in 

 length. The large yolk-bladder projected somewhat beyond the head, 

 the eyes were pigmentous, the sphincter was close to the yolk-bag, and 

 the chorda consisted of several rays. 



The young plaice, after slipping out of the egg, remained alive 11 

 days. Their eyes showed some pigment. The length of the body was 

 5.26 millimeters. The yolk-bag was large, and the sphincter close to it. 

 The chorda cells consisted of several links; the arch of the gills and the 

 lower jaw were not yet developed. The young fish hatched from the 

 flounder eggs were but little developed. Their eyes showed no trace of 

 pigment; their length was about 3.6 millimeters. The sphincter, lying 

 close to the yolk, was connected with the intestinal canal only by a thin 

 cord, and the chorda had several rays. From the eggs whose yolks 

 appeared broken there came narrow fish 3.7 millimeters in length. They 

 were not much developed ; their eyes had no pigment ; they distinguished 

 themselves from the young dsh mentioned before by the construction of 

 the chorda, which had only one ray, and also by the circumstance that 

 the sphincter is not close to the yolk, but opens very far back, and only 

 about 0.5 millimeter from the tip end of the tail. In this jiarticular as 

 well as in their form and shape, after the yolk had been absorbed, these 



