12 A. E. HEFFOKD. 



hatched out, but in an unhealthy condition and with the tail much 

 bent. It was recognized by the larval pigmentation and by the totally 

 segmented yolk, which bore anteriorly an oil-globule of 0"24 mm. 

 diameter. The black and yellow pigment had a similar distribution 

 to that in Holt's and Ehrenbaum's figures, but was not so strongly 

 marked. On account of the deformity of the tail it was impossible to 

 ascertain the total length. It measured O^yS mm. to the posterior 

 contour of the yolk-sac. I*ost-larval stages have occasionally appeared 

 in the catches of the young-fish trawl in July and August. It would 

 appear, therefore, that the fish spawns out in deep water, the drift of 

 the eggs and larvae towards the coast requiring some little time. It 

 will be noticed that my solitary egg was at the last stage of embryonic 

 development when taken. Its unhealthiness also is in keeping with the 

 general rule that the more the habitat of the species lies in the open 

 sea the greater the difficulty experienced in rearing the larva in the 

 laboratory. In spite of the abundance of scad at this time in these 

 waters, all those I was able to examine were immature, so that 

 I inferred that the older and spawning fislies did not approacli tlie 

 coasts so closely. Against this, however, it must be stated that as the 

 result of his investigations in the North Sea, Ehrenbaum {op. tit., 

 p. 235) finds that Garanx tracliurns favours as spawning places the 

 shallow coastal areas from 10 to 25 m. depth, while outside the 30 m. 

 line only few eggs were found. 



Previous records of the occurrence of this egg in the Plymouth 

 neighbourhood are confined to the observations of Holt (lid, p. 116), 

 who obtained four specimens in July, 1897. The diameter of the egg 

 was 0-81 to 0-93, and the oil-globule 0-22 to 0-23 mm. 



Capros aper, Lacep. Boar-fish or Cuckoo. 



The pelagic eggs of this species first appeared in tow-nettings taken 

 on 14th June, and from the end of that month to the end of August 

 our samples from the deeper water contained a well-marked pre- 

 ponderance of these eggs, which were especially numerous at the 

 beginning of July in the neighbourhood of the Eddystone. The 

 embryonic characters were first described by Cunningham (4a, p. 10), 

 who artificially fertilized ova in August, 1897, and Holt has published 

 descriptions and drawings of the larval stages (llf, p. 26, PL V, 

 Figs, 43-8). Pelagic eggs taken by him varied from 0-93 to 101 mm. 

 in diameter (chiefly "97 to -99), and contained an oil-globule of 015 to 

 0"165 mm. diameter. The average dimensions of my ova were : — 

 diameter of egg, 0946 mm.; diameter of oil-globule, 0156 mm.; and 

 the range of size was from 0-90 to 0-98 mm. for egg, and from 0-145 to 



