22 A. E. HEFFOED. 



and crooked. There is still a portion of the yolk left, although the gut 

 is now completely looped. The mouth is now open and conical teeth 

 are visible in the lower jaw. The head is relatively enormous, the 

 midbrain of considerable size and forwardly protruding. The dorsal 

 fin membrane is very deep over the head and anterior part of the 

 body. At this stage the specimen was killed. 



A similar egg to mine was taken in July, 1890, in Clew Bay, and 

 has been described by Holt (11a). The diameter was l"o8 mm., and 

 the numerous oil-globules had a characteristic arrangement, different 

 from that of the other known British species of >Solca but resembling 

 that exhibited in my specimen. 



The resulting larva, however, was very different from mine, and was 

 especially remarkable for its peculiar cephalic contour caused by a 

 precephalic vesicular expansion of the dorsal fin. The very slight 

 occurrence of black pigment and the limited distribution of the yellow 

 chromatophores in the unpaired fin (oj). cit., PI. L, Fig. 34) constitute 

 another and probably more important difference between that larva and 

 mine. The same authority obtained a second egg in the Gulf of 

 Marseilles (llf, loc. cit.) of 1"36 mm. diameter and of similar character 

 in regard to its numerous oil-globules, and referred to as " ? Solca lascaris, 

 Risso." He points out its similarity to Raffaele's " Sp. A " (20, p. 43, 

 Tav. 1, Figs. 32 and 33 ; Tav. 3, Figs. 4-9), which, however, has a 

 smaller egg and more black pigmentation than Holt's, in which latter 

 character it approaches much more nearly to mine. Holt (llf, p. 86) 

 is inclined to minimize the importance of this difference, remarking, 

 " que le seul alevin que j'ai vu n'etait pas ne sous le beau soleil du 

 midi, chose a prendre en compte lorsquon parle de coloration," and 

 since the dorsal precephalic prominence is probably an abnormal and 

 certainly not a constant character (Kaffaele, for example, shows it in 

 Tav. 3, Fig. 5 only, and Mcintosh and Prince (16, p. 850), referring to 

 a similar protuberance over tlie brain in a single specimen of Solca 

 vulgaris, regard it as an abnormal feature), there is much probability 

 that Holt's larva from the Irish egg is the same species as mine, 

 the latter being the more normal form. Ehrenbaum (5b, p. 149) 

 does refer it to Solca lascaris, suggesting that Eaffaele's " Sp. A" on 

 account of the smaller diameter of the egg may probably be Solea 

 Kleini, Bp. 



