1^9 



Was closing up, its thickened rim being half way between 

 equator and lower pole and traces of the embryonic shield 

 were to be seen. At 10.30 p.m. the optic vesicule appeared, 

 and at 11.35 P-n^- the blastopore had closed, and bv midnight 

 the embryo extended over half the hemisphere of the yolk 

 At 6 a.m. a number of yellow and black spots appeared all 

 over the embryo with, however, fewer on head region ; the 

 periphery of the oil globule appeared darker, and a few (1-4) 

 branching pigment cells occurred on it. The eggs seemed to 

 be of a greater specific gravity than those of the White Stump- 

 nose, as when disturbed they ascended to the surface more 

 slowly, and very slight motion was sufficient to send them to the 

 bottom of the jar. At 11 a.m. a considerable part of the tail 

 was free from the yolk, large branching pigment cells were 

 seen behind the optic vesicle and small ones in front. Two 

 large yellow cells with branchings over the body appeared at 

 .each side of the trunk a little behind the otocyst, and others 

 about the middle of the body. Notochord multicolumnar. 



At noon there were few at the surface, most being scattered 

 throughout the water, at 2 p.m. only one or two on the surface, 

 about 6 in mid water and the rest, over 100, at the bottom. 



Hatching out took place at 4 p.m. The embryo had a rather 

 long yolk sac projecting slightly beyond the snout and ending 

 posteriorly about midway between snout and extremity of tail. 

 There is no aggregation of pigment at any particular points, 

 but it is scattered sparsely over the whole larva in dots and 

 stellate pigment cells, sometimes extending on to dorsal and 

 anal fin. 



The oil globule is generally postero-ventral. 



FAM. TRIGLIDAE. 



AGRIOPUS VERRUCOSUS, C & V. (HORSE FISH). 



Repeated attempts were made to secure the egg of this 

 peculiar fish, but only on one occasion were apparently ripe 

 samples procured from a female 9^ inches long. Agriopus is not 

 uncommonly got in the trawl, but a ripe male and female were 

 never got at the same time. 



The egg is large, 17 mm. to 1*53 mm. in diameter. No oil 

 globule is present and the surface of the egg is covered by 

 network of well marked striations. 



BI86. n 



