KOTES ON TELEOSTEAN OVA AND LAKVAE. 55 



minute observations made upon the ripening ovarian ova of a dory 

 caught in April, concluded that the mature eggs would prove to be 

 large, contain one or more oil-globules and be demersal ; which con- 

 clusions are confirmed by the character of my ripe eggs. Their 

 demersal nature was indicated, even at that stage, by the comparatively 

 dense fibrous nature of the tissue of the stroma and the follicle, by 

 the presence of a well-defined double layer, by the character of the 

 yolk, and by the general hardness and resistance to pressure, all these 

 features being in contrast with ovarian pelagic eggs. One of the 

 largest specimens examined by Fulton from the ovarian stroma 

 measured 1"39 mm, in diameter and contained two groups of three and 

 four oil-globules. Some other slightly smaller eggs contained a promi- 

 nent straw-coloured oil-globule : thus in an egg of 1*02 mm. diameter 

 the oil-globule measured 0'25 mm. All these were quite opaque and 

 white by reflected light and still contained in the follicular investment. 

 Holt has recorded the capture of ripe females off the west coast of 

 Ireland in July and August, and one spent in June.* Cunningham 

 (4g, p. 322) also has found ripe females in August at Plymouth. The 

 demersal character of the eggs and the relatively deep-water habitat 

 of the spawning fishes are sufficient to account for the present lack of 

 knowledge of embryonic development. The youngest post-larval stages 

 yet recorded are those described by Schmidt (21d) from four specimens 

 (7f mm. to 19 mm. long) taken by the Thor in August and September, 

 1906 (three from various parts of the Channel and one from the Bay 

 of Biscay) ; to which must be added one specimen of 14 mm. taken by 

 the Oithona's young-fish trawl ofif Plymouth Sound on the 17th of 

 September in the same year. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1. Brook, G. — a. Preliminary Account of the Development of Lesser Weever 



(Trachinns vipera). Linn. Soc. Journ. Zool., XVIII (1884), pp. 274- 

 91, PI. III-VI. 



b. On Some Points in the Development of Motella mustela. Ibid., 

 pp. 298-306, PI. YIII-X. 



2. Browne, F. Balfour. — Report on the Egg.s and Larvae of Teleostean Fishes 



observed at Plymouth in the Spring of 1902. Journ. Mar. Biol. 

 Assoc, N.S., Vol. VI (1903), pp. 598-616. 



3. Canu, E. — a. Ponte, ccufs et larves des poissons utiles observes dans la Manche. 



Annates de la Stat. Aquic. de Boulogne, Vol. I (1893), pp. 117-32, PI. 

 VIII-XV. 



b. Ibid., Vol. II (1894), pp. 63-72, PI. I-V. 



* Report of the Council Royal Dublin Society, 1892, p. 245. 



