84 Mr. E. E. Prince on Oleaginous Spheres -in the 



salmon-nets (in the latter especially in easterly gales, which 

 rendered the water muddy) ; in one case, indeed, the net could 

 not be pulled up off the east rocks, from the great weight of 

 the captured lumpsuckers (estimated at several tons), and it 

 was ruptured. They are only used along with fish-offal for 



manure. 



Pennant's observation with regard to the tenacity with 

 which an adult clings by its sucker to a pail full of water has 

 been found to be quite accurate. The whole can be lifted by 

 seizing the fish, and a greater weiglit than 43 pounds (which 

 was that of pail and water) could readily be raised in this 



manner. 



X. — On the Presence of Oleaginous Spheres in the Yolk 

 of Teleostean Ova. By Edward E. Prince, St. Andrews 

 Marine Laboratory. 



Of the 9000 or 10,000 species of osseous fishes known to 

 zoologists the eggs of not more than 80 have been obtained 

 and determined. This comparatively small number indeed 

 includes several species whose ova have been discovered only 

 within the last twelve months by Prof. iM'Intosh at the 

 St. Andrews Marine Laboratory, and are therefore new to 

 science. Quite a large proportion of these eggs are charac- 

 terized by the presence in the yolk of large refringent masses, 

 the so-called oil-globules. These structures have long been 

 familiar to embryologists, and they constitute a prominent 

 feature in those Salmonoids whose development is more com- 

 pletely known than that of any other group of Teleosteans. 

 Yet the significance and function of these bodies seems to be 

 little understood, or, more truly, seems to be wliolly misunder- 

 stood. Of course all fish-ova have oily elements in their 

 protoplasm, some cholesterin being constantly present, with 

 other fatty matters, in addition to myosin and the usual deri- 

 vatives of albumin ; but these elements, when they can be 

 detected optically, are microscopic, and, being distributed as 

 minute vesicles all over the vitellus, strikingly differ from 

 the large globules here considered. Not only in size, but in 

 colour, situation, and relation to the rest of the ovum, and 

 almost certainly also in chemical composition, these large 

 spheres are distinguished from the microscopic fatty particles 

 present in all ova. So well-marked and characteristic are 



