446 E. RAY LANKESTER AND ARTHUR WILLEV. 



is connected with the Straits of Messina by a narrow canal, 

 some two or three hundred yards in length. 



The bottom of the pantano, in contrast to that of the 

 Straits, consists of foul mud ; and it may be mentioned in this 

 connection, as stated by Professor Kleineuberg,^ that Am phi - 

 oxus is only occasionally met with in the Straits, and is 

 entirely absent from another larger pan tan o which lies 

 behind the neighbouring village of Ganzirri, and is joined 

 by a short canal to the one at Faro. 



The embryos float on the surface, and are to be had by 

 dredffino; on the surface at sunrise: but the readiest method of 

 obtaining them in quantity is to take the adults in glasses 

 and allow them to spawn there, if they will. Spawning takes 

 place about an hour after sundown. 



The ova, if fertilised, must be very carefully distributed 

 among several glasses containing clean, but unfiltered, water 

 from the pant an o. If the water is filtered, or if sea-water is 

 employed, or if too many ova are placed in one glass, they will 

 certainly either die or develop abnormally. 



The first outward and visible sign of fertilisation is the 

 separation from the egg-cell of the yolk-membrane (Dotter- 

 membran). 



Most, if not all, of the ova obtained were discharged through 

 the atriopore. 



If Kowalevsky ^ had not seen them issuing from the mouth, 

 it would not have been supposed that they could pass into 

 the pharynx in opposition to the constant outflow of water 

 between the gill-bars. 



Segmentation always commences at dusk — between the 



1 I desire to express my suicere thanks to Professor Kleincuberg, of 

 Messina, for his kindness and for the invaluable assistance which he gave to 

 Mr. Willey in accomi)lishiug the object of the latter's visit to Sicily. I have 

 also to thank the Government Grant Committee of the Royal Society for 

 the funds which enabled me to obtain Mr. Willey's services in this inquiry. — 

 E. R. L. 



' "Entwick. des Ampli. lane." ('Mem. Acad. Impcr. des Sciences de St. 

 Petersbourg,' series vii, vol. xvi, 1S6G). 



