THETARPON 25 



shoals of fish. At the period of its visits to the 

 coast it attracts the angler, who, in search of ad- 

 venture, essays with success to capture a giant 

 fish with the rod. Megalops is represented in the 

 marine Lower Eocene of Sheppey and probably 

 Elops as well and allied genera have been obtained 

 from the Cretaceous of Europe, Mount Lebanon 

 and Brazil. 



"It is probable that these more oceanic allies 

 of the herring have pelagic eggs, and that spawn- 

 ing takes place out at sea, but this does not pre- 

 clude an anadromous migration taking place. 



"The spawning migrants appear to migrate 

 towards the coast before spawning takes place, 

 but the spawning region is sufficiently far from 

 the Coast to demand a denatent .drift of the eggs 

 and larvae to the Coast where the early life is 

 spent. After metamorphosis the young stages 

 are passed in comparatively shallow water. The 

 life history of these fish may be said to be, there- 

 fore, and it applies as well to the bathypelagic 

 Pterothrissus; a denatent drift of the egg and 

 larvae to or towards the shore; after a season 

 spent in shallow water a short contranatent migra- 

 tion, a return denatent migration, a stronger con- 

 tranatent movement into deep water and, finally, 

 a spawning migration, which, as has been said, is 

 probably a anadromous one from the oceanic 

 region of dispersal/' 



An accomplished and sound authority, Mr. J. T. 

 Nichols, of the Department of Ichthyology of the 





