Holt — On the Eggs and Larvae of Teleosteans. 445 



yolk. None of the darker pigment characteristic of the older forms has as yet 

 appeared. 



No striations of the yolk are visible in this specimen. Compared with Raffaele's 

 figure of a larval C. festivus on the second day after hatching, it is seen that the 

 marginal pigment patches of the dorsal and ventral fins are characteristic of both 

 forms. In the Mediterranean species the development of the brain, and in our 

 own that of the snout, seems the more precocious, the exaggeration of both 

 structures being characteristic of the older forms of C. lyra. 



It may be permissible here to advert shortly to the question of the afiinities of 

 this form. Raffaele remarks that in development and early conditions it has 

 nothing in common with the Gobies, amongst which it is classed. The hexagonal 

 marking of the zona (vitelline membrane), so conspicuous in C. lyra (but absent in 

 C. festivus), was found by Raffaele also in the fei'tilized egg of Uranosco2ms scaber, 

 and in the ovarian e^g of Saiiriis lacerta {op. cit.). Putting aside Saurus, Cunning- 

 ham {op. cit., p. 37) regards the occurrence of this common feature in Callionymus 

 and Uranoscopus as suggesting " some interesting possibilities with regard to the 

 true systematic afiinities of these two genera," the latter of which is classed with 

 the Trachinidse. He alludes to certain peculiarities of adult structure common to 

 the two forms, and points out that whereas the Trachinidse are mostly laterally 

 compressed, Uranoscopus is depressed from above downwards, and has the two eyes 

 directed upwards and placed on the flat upper surface of the head. This, it may 

 be remarked, is equally true of Gohiiis minutus. 



Cunningham concludes that it is probable that "Callionymus and Uranoscopus 

 are closely allied, and that either the Callionymina ought to be included among the 

 Trachinidse instead of among theCobiidse, or that the Callionymina andUranoscopina 

 form a single family distinct both from the Gobies and the Weevers." The fact that 

 the eggs of the typical gobies are adhesive whilst those of Callionymus are pelagic 

 appears to me of no great weight, as both pelagic and demersal eggs occur in the 

 Labridse, and even in the single genus Clupea ; and such goby-eggs as are known to 

 us, so far from being typical, are as aberrant in their own way as those of Callionymus. 

 That the presence of oil-globules in the ova of Trachinus and their absence in those 

 of Uranoscopus can be regarded as seriously lessening the chance of afiinity between 

 these two forms appears improbable, as oil-globules are present or absent in the 

 ova of different species of the same family, such as the Labridse and Gadidae, and 

 even in the same genus {e. g. Clupea). The occurrence of the hexagonal marking 

 in Saurus would seem to indicate that no great importance can be attached to this 

 structure. Saurus is one of the Scopelidse, a Physostomous family having certainly 

 no close relationships to either of the other forms. 



As to the relationships of Callionymus to the gobies it may be pointed out that 

 the unicolumnar condition of the notochord, by no means a common featm-e, 



3 R 2 



