192 MESSES. E. W. L. HOLT AND L. W. BYRXE— BISCAY AN PLANKTON: 



separately, because many of the smallei' and of the mutilated specimens may probably 

 belong to some of the species wbicli we have recognized. 



The known larvae of many Teleosteans evince no repugnance to the surface in calm 

 weather. Other known larvae seem to avoid it, and the probability is that the diurnal 

 oscillation of Biscayan fishes represented by larvae at the time of observation is not 

 susceptible of generalization. 



III. The Species of Fish captured. 



The fishes and fish-larvae taken by the ' Research,' so far as they are recognizable, are 

 enumerated below; larval forms are inserted either under the genera or families to 

 which we regard them as referable, or under names which are intended to serve no 

 purpose beyond facilitating reference. 



In the following pages are notes of the occurrences of the various species and larvse, 

 with a few remarks on their distribution and morphology where these appear to be 

 called for. 



So far as the lai'vae are concerned, we have not attempted to describe with any 

 completeness either forms of which our material is deficient or those better known 

 to lis from other collections which are not as yet fully worked out. In the case 

 of the " Praescope " larva, which we have never met with in any gathering other 

 than those made by the ' Research,' we have given a description of the stages 

 known to us. 



Very few of the fishes with adult characters, perhaps none, are sexually mature, but 

 they have reached the phase of structural development which, in the case of the few- 

 littoral species of which the life-cycle is fairly well known, is marked by the assumption 

 of habits approaching those of fully developed individuals. It must, however, be 

 remembered that among littoral fishes even an approximately complete knowledge of 

 life-history has been attained only in the case of some of the commoner species which 

 take to the bottom when adult, and by no means extends to consistently pelagic 

 forms. Probably all the ' Research ' fishes (except, of course, the Conger) are j)elagic 

 throughout life, and there is no obvious reason why their vertical distribution sliould 

 vary with age, except it be found in the greater power of Ihe perfect individuals 

 to respond to stimuli inducing vertical movement or in bathymetric necessities of 

 reproduction. 



So far as we are aware, Dr. Fowler's work in the ' Research ' comprises the first exact 

 records of the distances from the surface at which certain oceanic fishes have been 

 taken. 



