20 REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OP THE CONGER. 



dated February 29th, 1888, only comprise my observations up to 

 November 7tli, 1887, at which time I had not met with a male 

 specimen. 



On November 17th I bought eighteen small specimens on the fish- 

 quay. The smallest of these was 1 foot 4 inches, the largest 2 feet 

 8 inches long. One of them, 1 foot 8 inches in length, was a male 

 with well-developed but not ripe testes. The testis was 7 mm. 

 broad and 2 mm. thick (about ^ inch broad, -^^ i°ch thick). In 

 form and relations this testis agreed with the description given by 

 Hermes, except that there was no division into lobes ; the organ 

 was continuous from end to end. Two other specimens were very 

 young males, 18 and 19-|- inches long respectively ; ten were females, 

 and in five of the smallest the reproductive organ was so undeve- 

 loped that the sex could not be determined. 



On December 4th I examined the ovary of a very large conger 

 over 6 feet in length ; the ovary was large, forming a milk-white 

 opaque elongated mass on each side of the body-cavity. The organ 

 was 8 cm. wide, the ova or eggs visible as separate grains to the 

 unaided eye. Measured under the microscope the eggs were found 

 to be '5 mm. in diameter; they were perfectly opaque and granular, 

 and spherical in shape. The ovary contained, besides very numer- 

 ous ova, a good deal of fat-tissue. 



On March 2nd, 1888, I got the roe of a large conger, 5 or 6 feet 

 long, from the fish-quay. The ova in the roe were visible to the 

 unaided eye, and when measured were found to have a diameter of 

 •5 to "7 mm. 



In ovaries less developed than these the ova are not separately 

 visible to the uu aided eye, and can only be seen when a piece of a 

 lamella is examined with the microscope. The appearance then 



Fig. 1. — Portion of lamella from immature ovary of conger under low power of the 

 microscope, o. Ova. J". Fat-cells. 



presented by the fresh tissue is that shown in the woodcut, fig. 1 ; 

 the small ova are still transparent enough to show the germinal 



