NOTES ON TELEOSTEAN OVA AND LARVAE. 29 



The one-day-old larva (length 3'42 mm.) shows a complete modifica- 

 tion of the marginal fringe of the early stage by its breaking up into a 

 series of separate large pectinate and dendritic patches, eight of these 

 patches occurring in the dorsal and five in the anal fin. This exactly 

 resembles Holt's "Species X"(llb, Figs. 20 and 21), which Ehrenbaum 

 (5b, p. 206) considers as probably identical with Zeugoiitcrus puncUdus. 

 Besides the above-mentioned characteristic, large, marginal chromato- 

 phores, in each of the unpaired fins there is a series of fairly large 

 stellate chromatophores, midway between these and the trunk contours, 

 a single row in the dorsal and a double row in the anal fin. The last 

 0*5 mm. of the tail end is free from pigment in the fin membrane, but 

 fine black chromatophores extend to the caudal extremity of the trunk. 

 Yellow and black chromatophores are scattered fairly uniformly over 

 the whole body, with a certain amount of concentration along the dorsal 

 and ventral contours. 



On the third day (Fig. 10) still further local concentration into patches 

 has taken place, but the general form of the pigmentation remains the 

 same. Black pigment now appears in the eye, and the prominent 

 pectoral fins bear dendritic yellow and rounded black chromatophores. 

 The yolk-sac — with the yolk somewhat more than half absorbed — is 

 very elongate, so that its ventral contour is practically straight. 



To summarize: — The spawning season of Z. punctatus in this neigh- 

 bourhood extends from the middle of February to May. The pelagic 

 eggs have a homogeneous yolk and one oil-globule. The diameter of 

 the egg averages 1"03 mm. in February-March and 0*98 mm. in April- 

 May, the limiting sizes being 0-92 mm. and 1*05 mm. The diameter of the 

 oil-globule is 0-17-0-19 mm. Embryo and yolk-sac bear black and 

 yellow pigment, the latter becoming conspicuously predominant in the 

 late embryo and larva. Within one day after hatching, the larva 

 exhibits characteristic stellate or pectinate and dendritic patches of 

 yellow pigment associated with black in its unpaired fins, usually eight 

 in the dorsal and five in the anal fin. The newly hatched larva 

 measures 2-90-2-93 mm. (or possibly less), and the anus is only slightly 

 (if at all) anterior to the median point. 



Gadus. 



Our tow-net samples of Gadus eggs have not been sufficiently 

 numerous to enable certain conclusions as to their identity to be made 

 in the great majority of cases. This is not due to the absence or 

 scarcity of members of the genus from our neighbourhood, but to the 

 fact that the open-sea water some distance from tlie coast was not tow- 

 netted till April, when the spawning season of the I'lymouth gadoids is 



