236 



Mr. E. Sliann on the Life-history and 



six sections of otoliths of G. minutus was obtained in this 

 manner. The fishes from which they were taken form a 

 representative sequence; particulars of their locality, size, and, 

 most important in this connexion, their date of capture are 

 noted in tabular form below. The drawings in PI. X. were 

 outlined by aid of the camera lucida and filled in by free-hand. 

 The otoliths are all shown as seen by reflected light, so that 

 the darker zones indicate thinner areas, and vice versa. For 

 the reasons above stated the inferences as to age determination 

 by this method are not to be insisted on, but the results are 

 given for what they are worth. Suffice it to say that they 

 are, at least to some extent, in keeping with the conclusions 

 arrived at by other methods — that is to say, that, in all proba- 

 bility, the growth of G. minutus continues throughout the 

 year, but that there is a slight retardation during the winter 

 months, which in the case of the Clyde specimens appears to 

 amount to an actual cessation. Unfortunately, owing to being 

 preserved in formaline, the otoliths of the Clyde specimens 

 had not retained their normal composition. 



Tabulated Results of Observations of the Otoliths ofG. minutus. 



