28 REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONGER. 



eggs in a grain of the ovary, I calculated tlie total number in the 

 two ovaries to be 7,925,280. Thus the result of my calculation 

 agrees closely with that made at the Southport Aquarium, and there- 

 fore the number obtained by Dr. Otto Hermes at Berlin was prob- 

 ably very much too small. The last female I have referred to had 

 taken no food since March 15th, five months. 



On August 30th I put the box containing the remaining female 

 down in another part of the Sound, attaching the rope connected 

 with it to the moorings of a buoy. Probably the motion of the buoy 

 broke the rope, for the latter was recovered, but the box could 

 never again be found. The eggs in the female which died in the 

 box were in the same condition as those previously obtained from 

 other females, and the problem of obtaining ripe fertilised eggs still 

 remains unsolved. 



When examining the ripe females that died in 1890 (three speci- 

 mens) I noticed that they had lost nearly all the teeth, and that the 

 bones of the head were soft and flexible. I afterwards made a 

 careful comparison of two of the heads of these specimens preserved 

 in spirit, with the fresh head of a conger bought on the fish-quay 

 on January 6th, 1891. The latter specimen was 4 feet 5f inches in 

 length, the total weight 14 lbs. 7;^ oz. I found the teeth in this 

 specimen to be as follows : — They are all similar in shape, small, 

 short, and obtusely pointed, and they are very numerous. In each 

 jaw on each side there is one principal row situated on the narrow 

 projecting edge of the jaw. These teeth are very close together, so 

 that their points form a cutting edge. Along the inner side of the 

 gums is a single row of smaller teeth, whose points project but 

 slightly through the gums. At and near the anterior extremity of 

 the premaxilla, on the outer side of the principal row of teeth, are 

 other incomplete longitudinal rows, broadening out into a patch at 

 the extremity of the bone. Similarly in the lower jaw there are 

 incomplete rows on the outer side of the principal row, broadening- 

 out into a patch at the anterior extremity of the mandible. In the 

 front of the upper jaw there is an oblong patch of teeth attached to 

 the anterior part of the vomer. All these teeth are very sharp and 

 strong, although small, and are very firmly fixed in the bones which 

 bea.r them. 



In the females which died with ripening ovaries there are only a 

 few scattered teeth left ; nearly all of them have disappeared. The 

 few which remain are loose and blunt, held only by the skin, and 

 not firmly fixed in the bones. The prominent ridges of the jaw- 

 bones on which the principal rows of teeth are situated in the 

 feeding conger have also disappeared, and the surface of the bones 

 within the mouth are smooth and flat. 



