Mindeskrift for J. Steenstrup. XXVII. 



seen, considerably larger, and the egg therefore of a relatively shorter and broader 

 shape than those before me ; it is, however, to be remembered that the egg figured 

 by BucHNAN White was an ovarial egg, and besides the text proves, that it was 

 treated as a microscopical preparation, and the comparatively large breadth is cer- 

 tainly due to pressure. The eggs from the Mozambique Channel (No. 11) are very 

 characteristic ; they have a thick shell, which is beautifully sculptured (Fig. 2). The 

 sculpture consists of thickened, isolated parts, which are elongated in the longi- 

 tudinal direction of the egg, and the edges of which rise in thorn-like, but blunt and 

 often a little branched processes ; the thickened parts are lying close together, and 

 separated by interjacent, more narrow, deeper lying parts or furrows. The sculp- 

 ture is not the same all over the surface ; it is strongest on the arched, upwards 

 turned side, towards the downwards turned side it gradually decreases, and 



passes into a more simple and somewhat 

 spined sculpture, which almost wholly dis- 

 appears on the side turned downwards. The 

 egg has a length of fuUy 1 mm, and a breadth 

 of about 0,4 mm. Of Halobates-species taken 

 in the neighbourhood of that locality I find 

 only sericeus Esch. and flaviventris Esch., 

 both taken at Madagascar, the former, 

 however, uncertain, while H. Alluaudi Bergr. 

 is taken at the Seychelles. — From No. 13, 

 Siam Bay, No. 16 3° 20' Lat. N., 106° 50' Long. 

 E., and No. 17, Ghinese Sea between 4° and 

 8° Lat. N. there are eggs wilh another sculp- 

 ture (PI. I, fig. 7). They have a thick shell, which is thickest on the ventral side; 

 the shell is very densely covered with short spines or finger-like emergences, often 

 more or less fused into somewhat sinuous and ramified crests. Also this sculpture 

 is strongest on the upwards turned ventral side and at the front end, and it de- 

 creases gradually towards the downwards turned, attached surface. The size and 

 shape of the eggs is for the rest as with the foregoing ones. From the parts where 

 the named localities are situated several Halobates-species are known, besides Wul- 

 lerstorffi, sericeus Esch., frauenfeldanus B. White, proavus B. White, princeps B. White, 

 germanus B.Wite and sexualis Dist. — From No. 14, 4° 56' Lat. N., 106° 6' Long. E. 

 there is a Sepia-shell with eggs; these have a very thick shell, likewise thickest on 

 the upwards turned ventral side. The shell shows a sculpture consisting of a slight 

 crenulation, which is strongest on the ventral side; the faint emergences are also 

 here somewhat fused together to low, sinuous walls. The length is 1,2 mm, the 



Fig. 2. Two pieces of the shell of the eggs 



from the Mozambique Channel (No. 11), 



showing the sculpture. X 200. 



