252 Prof. MTiitosU'a Notes from the 



4. On the Eggs and Young of the Bimaculated Sucker 

 (Lepadogaster bimaculatus, Donov.). 



This fish is rather more characteristic of the southern and 

 western than tlie eastern shores, though it is by no means 

 rare on the latter or in tlie north of Scotland. The eggs are 

 deposited towards the end of June (being most common in 

 July and August) inside empty bivalve shells, such as Venus, 

 Pectunculus, Solen, and Pecten, and also along with L. Decan- 

 dolii, at Guernsey, in the interior of the hollow basal swellings 

 of the curled tangles, the adult fixing itself beside the eggs 

 by means of the sucker. 'I'he eggs are stated by Mr. Holt to 

 have a long diameter of 1'37 millira. and a short one of 1*08, 

 wdiile the height is '68 milllim. The preserved eggs have a 

 long diameter of 1'14 to 1*37 millim. and a short one of "914 

 to 1*2 millim., while the heiglit is '64 millim. These latter 

 dimensions thus agree with those of Mr. Holt, taking the 

 contraction caused by spirit into consideration. They are 

 placed quite separately in most cases, though not with regu- 

 larity, inside the shells, attached by a flattened surface of a 

 peculiar structure. On the irregular surface of the cavity of 

 the tangle they were somewhat close to each other ; indeed, 

 two or three were occasionally lifted together by the basal 

 secretion, and they covered all the available surface. The 

 attached or flattened surface is coated by an adhesive secre- 

 tion, the micropyle, as Mr. Holt in his careful and accurate 

 description observes, being in the middle. He found the 

 aperture, however, closed, as was the case also in those 

 examined here, the disks or bosses of the cilia or long j)apillse' 

 of attachment occurring over it. A fine fibrillar secretion 

 stretches over the whole of the attached surface, the fibres 

 radiating from the micropyle outward towards the marginal 

 fringe. The surface of the capsule (zona) in this region is 

 closely studded all over with distinct pustule-like disks or 

 bosses, from which cilia or processes project, the tip being 

 often bifurcate and ending in long filaments. Tiiese and the 

 fibrillar secretion just mentioned run into the fringe of fibres 

 at the margin of the egg. In some views, however, the 

 marginal fringe sprang from a series of large basal stems 

 united with the secretion at the margin of the egg. 



On the other hand, the upper arch of the flattened ^g^ 

 has its capsule so transparent that the ordinary punctures 

 could not be satisfactorily made out in the preserved 

 specimens, though such were formerly considered to be 

 present. 



