THE LIFE-HISTORIES OF FISHES 153 



here that very little advance has yet been made on 

 the results obtained by the Norwegian professor. 

 This was in 1864, and in 1865 Sars also obtained 

 and identified the eggs of the mackerel ; and 

 another Scandinavan zoologist, Professor Malm 

 of the University of Gottenborg, obtained and 

 fertilised, in the same manner, the eggs of the 

 flounder. As early, then, as 1864-8 it had been 

 shown that the eggs of three important families 

 of food-fishes were to be found floating about at 

 the surface of the sea and undergoing development 

 there. 



From this time until the beginning of the 

 eighties little general advance was made in this 

 subject. The German Kiel Kommission, how- 

 ever, which was instituted in 1870, began to 

 make investigations on piscine life-histories, and 

 one of the first important contributions made 

 by this body was a very complete investigation 

 of the development of the herring. These 

 investigations were published by Kupffer in 

 the Jahresberichten of the Kommission for the 

 year 1878, and still remain the most complete 

 account of the development of this fish in 

 existence. 



Very little more was done in this country or 

 on the Continent until about 1884. The state 

 of general ignorance regarding the reproduction 

 and habits of sea-fishes may be gauged by a 

 perusal of the account of the life-histories of 



