184 



sn|)ro])hytic or parasitic. Conidioho/us is parasitic on 

 higher plants, but may live saprophytically in nutrient 

 media, and apparently the spores may persist unharmed 

 in salt water. Our fungus, which is not necessarily the 

 above genus, and, indeed, may belong to an undescribed 

 form, is probabh^ one which, as is typical in the group, 

 inhabits some insect. Insect life was very abundant in 

 the spawning pond in which the fish were living. Thus 

 the Port Erin Report of 1905, pp. 10-11, " As was the 

 case during the hatching season of 1904, our spawning 

 pond proved. a death trap to myriads of insects, especially 

 Diptera and Coleoptera, which seriously hampered the 

 work of egg-collecting." Over thirty species of Coleoptera 

 alone were identified by Dr. Bailey, of Port Erin, who 

 adds that all were local species, probably caught up from 

 the adjacent land by the wind and deposited on the surface 

 of the pond. I understand that the practice was to 

 depend on the growth of algse to keep the water well 

 oxygenated, and not to change it frequently'. This 

 practice no doubt would favour the infection- of the fish 

 by the fungus, assuming, as is probable, that the latter 

 originally inhabited some insect. In this case the death 

 of numbers of insects on the surface of the pond and the 

 liberation of great quantities of resting spores must have 

 infected the water, and the lack of frequent change of the 

 latter must have increased the chances of the infection of 

 the fish. 



IV. On a Tumoue in the Skin of the Dab 

 [Pleuronectes limanda). 



While trawling in Luce Bay in November, 1904, 

 several unusually large dabs were caught, and while 

 weighing and measuring these fishes several hard nodules 



