a Fishery Board for Scotland. 
Bay. In August, 1909, the plaice in Broad Bay (Minch) were found 
to be feeding almost exclusively on large A. tobianus, Even the 
stomachs of the adult sand-eels are sometimes found filled with 
post-larval forms. 
The spawning habits of the sand-eels remained fora very long time 
unknown. Through the brilliant researches of M‘Intosh and Prince 
(1889-1890) it was first definitely ascertained that the eggs are 
demersal and are laid singly. Possessed of an adhesive membrane, 
these eggs attach themselves to the sand grains amongst which they 
are deposited by the female. They are irregularly oval, have a 
thick membrane, and an oil-globule les within the dark yolk. 
Attached as they are to sand grains, they are detained in one 
locality until the small larvee hatch out. A few, however, owing 
to the action of strong currents, may temporarily be carried into 
the upper layers, where they are occasionally captured in the 
tow-nets. The newly-hatched larva still retains a portion of the 
yolk, with its contained oil-globule, and the capture of such 
newly-hatched larve in a tow-net is proof that the eggs were 
spawned in the neighbourhood. No such inference could 
legitimately be drawn where pelagic eggs are concerned. ‘The 
occurrence of these larvee in the tow-nets is therefore of exceptional 
interest as making it possible to map out with considerable accuracy 
the spawning areas of the sand-eel. 
Observations made by the “‘ Goldseeker ”’ during the last ten years 
(1904-1913 inclusive) indicate that while a few larval sand-eels 
are found in the plankton as early as February, they first appear in 
numbers during the month of March. An examination of the 
collections made during those months shows that the prevailing 
length of these forms is from 6 to 8 mm., and that in no case do they 
exceed 10 mm. (Thus not even in the largest specimens captured 
are there any traces of the first formation of the fin-rays.) These 
larvee, which have still a considerable portion of the yolk attached, 
are mostly between 5 and 6 mm. long—slightly larger, it might 
seem, than those measured by Masterman (1895), but this apparent 
difference is in all probability due to the method of preservation, 
alcohol specimens generally showing greater shrinkage than those 
preserved in weak formalin. 
While it is admitted that the length of the hatching period is 
directly dependent on the temperature of the water, there can be 
no doubt that all the specimens captured during these two months 
are the product of one spawning time. For, in spite of the fact that 
the observations have been so prolonged and so extensive, only ten 
individuals exceeding 10 mm. in length have been captured during 
these months in the plankton nets, and each of these individuals 
clearly belonged to the brood of a previous year. The temporary 
absence of larger forms in the tow-nets is not to be attributed to 
the small capacity of the nets, for not even with such an efficient 
apparatus as the Petersen young fish trawl have larger forms been 
taken ; moreover, ‘these same nets capture the larger forms in later 
months. The conditions in the Northern North Sea are thus similar 
to those found in the Southern portion, but are entirely different 
from those in the Baltic. _Ehrenbaum and Strodtmann (1904) 
observed in the Baltic, in addition to the youngest stages, numerous 
more advanced forms, AJ] developmental stages were represented 
