46 EE PRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OP TELEOSTEAN FISHES 



came from this species. It measured 2* 13 mm. in diameter^ liad a 

 number of dendritic black cbromatopliores on the body of the 

 embryo ; the tail was fully developed and the larva almost ready 

 to hatch. The ovum of the plaice was described in my paper in 

 the Trans, lioy. Soc. Ediu., vol. xxxiii, part 1 ; the measurement 

 I there gave was 1*95 mm., but 2"13 mm. is not beyond the limit 

 of individual variation. 



Gadus merlangus (the Whiting). 



Ova obtained February 6th, 1888, off the Rame Head at the 

 entrance to Plymouth Sound. Their size was 1*23 mm. in diameter, 

 they had a homogeneous yolk without oil-globules. I gave a 

 description of the ova of this species in 1885* from ai'tificially ferti- 

 lized ova, and stated their diameter as 1'25 mm. I did not figure 

 the hatched larva in that paper, and therefore now give figures of 

 one stage of the ovum, and of the larva which hatched from one of 

 these tow-net specimens. The larva is 3'67 mm. long, and the 

 dendritic chromatophores are confined to the body of the fish 

 absent from the median primordial fin, and from the surface of the 

 yolk. The rectum, as in all species of Gadus, does not extend to 

 the edge of the ventral part of the median fin, but ends blindly 

 close to the body. Figs. 33, 34. 



I found the whiting perfectly ripe at Mount's Bay on March 7th, 

 although I did not take any artificially fertilized ova, and thei'e is 

 no doubt that off Plymouth the species spawns also in February. 



Gadus luscus (the Pouting). 



Another ovum similar to the previous, but measuring 1'13 mm. in 

 diameter, was obtained eight miles south of the Mewstone on 

 January 20th. From it a larva hatched on January 23rd, which 

 obviously belonged to a species of Gadus, having similar characters 

 to the one assigned to the whiting. It is represented in fig. 35. 

 Its length was 2'97 mm. I have identified it provisionally as the 

 larva of Gadus luscus, the eggs of which species I have never taken 

 directly from the fish. 



MoTELLA, sp. ? (the Recklings). 



The ova and larvae shown in figs. 36, 37 I find it difficult to identify, 

 but they probably belong to the genus Motella. The blind rectum, 

 * Relations of Yolk to Gastrula in Teleosteans, Quart. Journ. of Micr. Sci., 1885. 



