1898.] PLANKTON OF THE FAEROE CHANNEL. 565' 



If they prove to be young Mallotus it will have been shown 

 that form is capable of descending below the 300-fathom line. 

 The localities are just outside the British area. 



A PELAGIC EGG, resembling Eaffaele's species No. 7. 



?Eaffaele, Mittheil. zool. Stat. Neap. viii. 1888, p. 69, tav. 5. 

 Undetermined species no. 7. 



Dr. Fowler's collection contains only one egg, which is quite 

 unlike any that has been recorded from British or Northern 

 European coasts. Preserved in a weak solution of formaldehyde, 

 it was not sufficiently transparent for an exact determination of 

 the internal structure. It was therefore passed through the 

 usual reagents into oil of cloves, a process which unfortunately 

 involved a complete collapse of the zona radiata. An attempt to 

 remove the latter without injury to the contents was only partially 

 successful. The characters, as observed during the whole process 

 of manipulation, appear to be as follow : 



The diameter is 3-5 inm., the shape approximately spherical. 

 The zona is thin and probably without any distinctive feature, 

 since some bubble-like markings present on one part appear to be 

 due to the adherence of a thin layer of yolk-matter. The peri- 

 vitelline space is certainly large, but the exact dimensions of the 

 yolk had been obscured by rupture either in the net or by the 

 action of formaldehyde. The embryo remains attached to a 

 pyriform yolk-mass 1*19 mm. by '90 mm., the narrow end under- 

 lying the head. The yolk is divided throughout into small rounded 

 segments of irregular size, and appeared to possess, as seen in 

 formaldehyde, a number of small oil-globules aggregated together. 

 The embryo is advanced and has a considerable free tail, closely 

 apposed to the yolk. Its total length may be estimated at about 

 2-40 mm. There appears to be no pigment. Any distinctive 

 characters which may have been present could not be observed 

 before the removal of the zona ; and the specimen was too much 

 injured in this process to admit of a reliable observation of the 

 embryo. 



Sufficient, however, has been noted to show that the egg agrees 

 very closely, both in dimensions and other characters, with 

 Eaffaele's species no. 7. Grassi's researches * have confirmed 

 Eaffaele's suggestion of a Muraenoid parentage for at least some 

 of the group of evidently allied ova to which no. 7 belongs, one of 

 them, no. 10, having been connected in a practically conclusive 

 manner with the Common Eel (Anguilla vulgaris). 



No observer has yet described the perfectly ripe egg of the 

 Conger (C. vulgaris), nor has any attempt been made to identify 

 with this abundant and rather valuable form any egg taken 

 in the tow-net. It appears from Cunningham's description 

 (Q. J. M. S. xl. p. 155) that the ripe egg probably differs from 

 that of Anguilla in possessing one or more oil-globules, and 

 therein agrees with Eaffaele's sp. 7 and with the egg from the 

 1 Q. J. M. S. xxxix. p. 371. 



