HYBRIDS BETWEEN THE TURBOT AND THE BRILL. 299 
parent was brill or turbot there is little evidence, but perhaps the 
preponderance of brill-like characters seems to point to the former 
species. Within the limits of a single species (e. g. Salmo levenensis) 
it is the characters (of size and pigmentation) of the female parent that 
are reproduced in the offspring (Sir J. Gibson Maitland, Bart., im 
litt.), and it is not unreasonable to suppose that the species of that 
parent may be predominant in determining the characters of a 
hybrid. Ova of the brill have been successfully impregnated with 
the milt of the turbot by Professor M‘Intosh, and although the larvee 
proved delicate, they do not appear to have been less hardy than 
pure-bred turbot larve which have come under my own obser- 
vation. 
Of the several instances of supposed hybrids collected by Smith 
(op. cit., pp. 444 and 446) all seem to have been somewhat turbot- 
like in shape, and the author’s conjectures as to the parentage seem 
to be based chiefly on the number of fin-rays and the relative 
thickness of the scales. The form which appears to correspond most 
nearly to those which form the subject of this note is suggested to be 
the result of the union of the male turbot and female brill, and on 
the whole I am inclined to think that this interpretation of the 
parentage is correct. 
