310 On the very young Uod and other Food-Fishes. 



observed in June. That a tiny embryo (a few millim. 

 in length) in April should in June and July have reached 

 so large a size, and witli organs so complex, seems at vari- 

 ance with what is known of the growth of other Teleosteans — 

 for example, of the salmon, catfish, ling, gurnard, skulpin, 

 and the PleuronectidjB. Even the catfish, which in its adult 

 state is nearly the size of the cod, and which deposits its 

 large ova (of the size of a salmon's) at the end of the year, 

 does not attain such proportions at this period (June) in con- 

 finement, and though feeding freely. Mr. E,. E. Earll also 

 observes* that in America the young cod H to 3 inches in 

 length in June had been spawned the iirevious December. 

 Couch mentions liis meeting with young cod less (that is a little 

 less) than an inch in May, a size which could hardly apply to 

 those hatched in March or April. Whether the cod spawns 

 earlier in certain regions lias not been clearly determined, and, 

 at any rate, the present remarks apply to the east coast of 

 Scotland. Further, the spawning-period this year on the 

 east coast was late, yet the young cod of the size above 

 mentioned appeared in the Laminarian region and rock-pools 

 earlier than last year. 



Moreover, the results of the use of the large triangular tow- 

 net f in deep water on board the fishery tender 'Garland' 

 within the last few days corroborate the foregoing view. 

 Quite a new field has been opened up by the use of this net 

 in the foregoing ship and in the yawl ' Dalhousie,' attached 

 to the laboratory, in the shallower water of St. Andrews Bay 

 — a field, indeed, which presents us with novelties of no ordi- 

 nary interest in regard to the remarkable condition of some 

 of the larval organs, e.g. the fins, an instance of whicii is seen 

 in the very long ochre-coloured ventrals of the young ling f. 

 Again, a complete series of young gurnards from the 

 egg up to the adult form has been obtained — the majority 

 of the smaller forms by a single sweep of the net off the 

 island of May ; and no young fish is more beautiful as well as 

 more remarkable than a young gurnard about f inch in length, 

 for its enormous pectorals are edged with white and finely 



* U. S. Fish Com. Rep. 1878. 



t This net is made of fine though strong' gauze, is fully 20 feet in 

 leno-th, and is fixed to a triangle composed of three wooden beams, each 

 10 feet long. The latter are hinged so that they can be folded together 

 in transit. The apparatus is sunk to the required depth by a heavy 

 leaden sinker, and kept uniformly there by means of a line and a galva- 

 nized iron float, such as is used for the ends of herring-nets. The most 

 active young fishes do not readily escape this net as they do an ordinary 

 tow-net. 



J This may be (some«vhat fancifully) termed the Pterichthyid stage 

 of such fishes. 



