256 Prof. M'Intosh'a Notes from the 



On the other hand, the female presents a somewhat tliicker 

 rim at the front margin of the anterior division of the suctorial 

 apparatus, and the whole of the horseshoe-shaped region is 

 much more papillose, even the folds between two of the rays 

 laterally being studded with papillae. The semicircle formed 

 by the hind edge of the posterior division of the apparatus 

 stands freely out and is minutely papillose, while the marginal 

 fringe is composed of symmetrical lobes pointed at the tip 

 and with two accessory pinnae at each side. 



One of the chief sexual distinctions, however, is the great 

 development of the papillae of the vent in the female. These 

 form long digitate processes interiorly on each side, the lateral 

 being further united with the upper so as to form a broad 

 lobose frill. They extend as far as the tip of the median 

 papilla and envelope it. A great contrast, therefore, exists 

 between this species and Lepadogaster Decandolii^ for the 

 females of the latter at the spawning-season show only a 

 series of short slender papillae at the vent, the posterior papilla 

 projecting almost as conspicuously as in the male of L. hi- 

 maculatus. 



After spawning the ovaries both of L. Decandoln and 

 L. himaculatus present a uniform structure, the stroma of the 

 organ in each being filled with what appear to be collapsed 

 eggs, with thick walls and a central slit-like region. At 

 first sight they appeared to resemble thick siirunken capsules 

 from which ova had issued, but that they are ova undergoing 

 change is more probable. The appearance diifered from that 

 usually seen in Teleostean ovaries, in which a crop of minute 

 ova is almost always found under these conditions. 



5. On the Life-history of the Short-spined Sea- Scorpion 

 (Cottus scorpius, L.). 



The short-spined sea-scorpion was one of the fishes very 

 early examined in regard to spawning during the trawling 

 work of 1884 and the following year. Comparatively little 

 was known previously in regard to it. Thus Day, in his 

 * British Fishes,' states that " In Greenland, it has been 

 observed to deposit its eggs on the sea- weed in December and 

 January. Its eggs are very small, and in this country are 

 extruded during the spring in the sand or pools in tiie rocks. 

 The male is said to make a nest of sea-weeds and pebbles for 

 the reception of the spawn ; while he is believed to watch 

 over, as well as protect, the young when hatched." On the 

 other hand, Prof. Alex. Agassiz records the ova of certain 

 American Cotti as pelagic, a feature very different from those 



