REPRODDOTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONGER. 17 



two specimens iu this condition died in the middle of August^ and 

 he adds that large numbers of young conger scarcely 3 cm. (1^ 

 inches) long are captured in the middle of April. Schmidtlein 

 does not give the measurements of the gravid conger which he men- 

 tionSj but he calls them large, and in another place says that the 

 fish grows to a length of over 2 metres (6 feet), so that it is probable 

 the gravid conger were 5 or 6 feet in length. 



Similar observations upon female conger are recorded by Dr, 

 Otto Hermes, the Director of the Berlin Aquarium, in the Zoolo- 

 gischer Anzeiger, vol. iv, 1881. Dr. Hermes states that he is con- 

 vinced that the development of the ovaries of the conger in captivity 

 is often a cause of death. When some females which had died in 

 the Berlin Aquarium were opened, the ovaries were found to be 

 much enlarged, and one which died in the Frankfort Aquarium was 

 actually burst by the extraordinary development of the ovaries. 

 This specimen weighed 22| lbs., the ovaries weighed 8 lbs., and the 

 number of eggs in them was calculated to be 3,300,000. 



According to Francis Day {Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland) 

 a female conger which died in the Southport Aquarium in June, 

 1876, weighed 15|: lbs., and the ovaries 7 lbs., the number of eggs 

 in which was calculated at 6,o36,512. It is evident that these cal- 

 culations are probably not very accurate, for according to the latter 

 there would be nearly a million of eggs to 1 lb. of ovary, while 

 according to that of Hermes, there would be only about one million 

 to 6 lbs. of ovary. 



These are the only published observations concerning the ripe 

 ovary of the conger that I have been able to find. With regard to 

 the structure of the ovaries the most complete account is that given 

 by Brock* in 1881, and founded on observations made at Naples. 

 I have in a previous number of this Journal briefly described the 

 external structure and relations of the ovaries. There is one ovary 

 on each side of the mesentery suspending the intestine. Each con- 

 sists of a long ribbon-like membrane, attached dorsally, with a free 

 edge ventrally. The median side of the ribbon is smooth and flat, 

 the lateral side bears a series of very numerous thin plates or 

 lamellse, attached to the ribbon-like membrane edgewise and 

 transversely, and in contact with one another by their faces like the 

 leaves of a book. These lamellae contain the numerous small ova. 

 Thus the ovary is not a closed tube as in most fishes, and conse- 

 quently the eggs when they leave the ovary lie free in the body- 

 cavity, whence they escape by an aperture behind the anus. 



We have next to ascertain what was known up to the commence- 



* TJntersuchungen uher die Oeschlechtsorgane einiger Muraenoiden, Mitt. Zool. Stat. 

 Neapel., Band ii, p. 415. 



NEW SERIES. VOL. II, NO. I. 2 



