202 MARKETABLE BRITISH MARINE FISHES 



eleven were males and the rest females, and considering that all 

 specimens over 2 feet 8 inches are females, the numerical 

 superiority of that sex must be very great. 



To turn now to the consideration of the females, I made 

 careful observations on some large specimens which lived in 

 the tanks. One of these was noticed in December, 1888, to 

 be somewhat swollen, as though the roes were enlarged, and 

 in March, 1889, she ceased to take food. I several times 

 squeezed this fish, an operation of considerable difficulty effected 

 by placing her head in a sack, and got a few eggs from her 

 which measured nearly T/. inch in diameter : but these eggs were 

 white and opaque and evidently not ripe. This female died on 

 September roth, having lived without food since the previous 

 March, or about six months. In January 1890, I removed two 

 other females which had ceased to feed, and placed them in a 

 tank with eight males, some of which were quite ripe, and 

 yielded milt on squeezing. It will be seen that the fact that 

 the female ceases to feed while the eggs in the roes are ripening, 

 and doubtless when they are ripe, enables the males to approach 

 her and secure the fertilisation of the eggs : the male which 

 approaches a hungry growing female is pretty certain to be de- 

 voured. In the specimens separated for observation it was seen 

 that the females frequently pressed their abdomen against the 

 gravel at the bottom, and especially the region of the vent. The 

 males took considerable notice of the females ; one of them rested 

 for days constantly by the side of one of the latter, returning 

 with great pertinacity when driven away. But no spawning took 

 place, one of the females died on March 24th, the other on 

 April 22nd. The day before death they writhed and twisted 

 about on the bottom as though trying to get rid of their 

 eggs. But the eggs examined after the death of the fish 

 were not ripe, the}- were in the same condition as in the female 

 previously mentioned. They were ^ inch in diameter, and still 

 contained in the substance of the roe. 



In these females the intestine and stomach were not only 

 empty but much reduced in size, and all the organs including 

 liver and spleen were squeezed into the smallest possible space 

 by the great enlargement of the roes. In one specimen 4 feet 

 5 inches long the roes weighed 3 Ibs. 4^ oz, the other organs 8 oz. 

 In the other, 5 feet 1 1 inches long, the roes weighed 4 Ibs. 5 oz. 



