REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONGER. 25 



shown in Fig. 1, but the latter was as opaque as before, and there 

 was no indication of a germinal disc (blastodisc). The formation 

 of the perivitelline space indicates that these eggs were almost ripe, 

 but it does not follow that they had acquired the characters of the 

 perfectly ripe eggs ; it is quite possible, I think, that the eggs 

 might become transparent and buoyant when perfectly ripe. The 

 diameter of one of these eggs after the formation of the perivitelline 

 space was 1*6 mm. 



On July 25th I isolated this female specimen in a separate tank, 

 and placed with her three small specimens identified as males, but 

 the latter were not ripe and did not yield milt on squeezing. I ob- 

 served no signs of sexual excitement in either female or males when 

 they were thus placed together. 



On August 13th I again squeezed the female but got no eggs. 

 After she was released on this occasion it was found that her head 

 was bent down at an angle with the body, and she appeared almost 

 paralysed. Some injury had evidently been done to the vertebral 

 column and spinal cord in the process of handling, but she con- 

 tinued to breathe and lived some time afterwards. 



On the 14th and 15th I again tried to squeeze eggs from her, 

 and obtained some separate ova and some small pieces of the ovary. 

 No violence was used in the process, but the ovary is, when enlarged, 

 very soft and tender, and pieces of it are therefore easily detached. 

 The eggs obtained were in the same condition as those obtained in 

 July, I could see no advance in their development ; one of them 

 measured '95 mm. in diameter. A perivitelline space, in most eggs 

 somewhat irregular in shape, was formed after extrusion as before, 

 but the eggs were still without the appearance of perfectly 

 ripe eggs. 



This female died on September 10th, having then been without 

 food since April 6th, that is five months at least ; she had ceased 

 to feed before that, and had therefore probably been fasting for 

 six months. After her death the ovaries were found to weigh 

 7 lbs. 5 oz. 



In the autumn of 1889 I collected some more male conger, in 

 order to continue my experiments with other large females which 

 were approaching maturity in the aquarium. 



On January 24th, 1890, I removed fi^om among the rest two 

 large females which had ceased to feed for some time, and placed 

 them with eight males in a tank from which all other animals 

 had been removed. These males were all ripe or very nearly 

 so, some of them having been ascertained to yield ripe milt when 

 squeezed. Among these specimens unmistakable signs of sexual 

 excitement were observed. The males were generally active and 



