Gatty Marine Laboratory ^ Sf. Andreios. 257 



of our country, and probably requiring re-investigation. On 

 the east coast, as at St. Andrews, the eggs of this fish occur 

 abundantly in March attached to stones, tangle-roots, old 

 shoes, tin vessels, and, indeed, almost anything convenient. 

 They are found, again, somewhat earlier (February) at Gair- 

 loch and other parts on the west coast. The authors of the 

 * Scandinavian Fishes ' * broach the idea that the roe of this 

 fish may be fertilized before deposition, and suggest that the 

 serrations on the inside of the breast-fins may be useful to the 

 males for this purpose. There is no reason to suppose that 

 in Britain the eggs are so fertilized ; on the contrary, it is 

 evident that they are not fertilized before deposition. As an 

 example, a female specimen whose abdomen was distended 

 had been isolated in a glass vessel, so that its movements 

 were somewhat limited ; and it is probable therefore that the 

 deposition may have been hastened. It had been observed 

 to be somewhat restless the previous day, and on the 1st March 

 it rested quietly on the bottom of the vessel, and in a few 

 seconds deposited a mass (as large as a duck's &g^) of faintly 

 pinkish eggs, keeping its breast-fins in active motion during 

 the process, and then it dashed through the water, sending 

 some of the eggs over the edge of the vessel. The mass of 

 eggs was at fiist quite soft, though cohering together by a 

 secretion ; but they soon hardened, the capsules of the eggs 

 adhering by facets to each other as in the lumpsucker, so that 

 the egg-mass in such a case resembles a spongy structure into 

 which water freely enters, and is retained in considerable 

 quantity, even though the eggs are uncovered by the tide, a 

 provision of some importance. They vary in colour from 

 that first mentioned to roseate, orange, straw-colour, and deep 

 red, and have a diameter of about I'o millim. to 2 millim. 

 (Holt). The capsule is thick, tough, and resistant, and shows 

 tlie facets or processes by which it adheres to surrounding 

 eggs. It is minutely punctured under a high power, the 

 punctures having as a rule a more regular (linear) arrange- 

 ment than in the lumpsucker. Moreover, larger dots occur 

 at intervals all over the surface, resembling those seen in the 

 lumpsucker's eggs removed from the stomach of young cod. 

 The yolk internally has several colourless oil-globules, from 

 three to nine, as mentioned by Mr. Holt, and they vary in 

 size from "015 millim. downward. The yolk itself is tinted 

 pale brownish or faintly reddish brown. Mr. Holt, who 

 carried on special observations on the eggs of this species at 

 St. Andrews, could not make out the passage of the oil- 

 globules through the yolk, as had been described by one of us 

 * Page 18(3. 

 Ann. dc Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 6. Vol xix. 19 



