— 214 — 



been taken in the salt water from the laboratory at St. Andrews, and he gives the following 

 list of them (see p. 213). 



England. Andrew Scott ^ writes as follows: "In our surface tow-net gatherings, 

 taken along the Lancashire coast during the past year or two, we have occasionally 

 found a little flat, transparent fish, which has been entered on our lists as "Leptoce- 

 phalus sp.". In January, 1896, three were taken in the estuary of the Wyre, by tow-net 

 worked from the steamer. In April of the same year, one was taken by tow-net worked 

 off Lytham Pier. In January 1897, one was taken in the Mersey, off New Brighton, and 

 in the year finished (1898), a number of individuals have passed through my hands, as 

 follows: On April 'J6th, Mr. J. Wright, Chief Fishery Officer at Piel, brought into the 

 Laboratory a tow- net collection he had made in the vicinity of the north end of Roa 

 Island, and amongst the material was a living Lepiocephahts etc. and several others, 

 which however were not taken pelagically but on Zostera or muddy ground". 



In the earlier English literature it is not infrequently mentioned that transparent glass- 

 eels have been found at the coasts between tide-marks. The English Zoologist, J. Couch^, 

 who carried on his investigations of the fishes in Cornwall in south-west England, has 

 for example observed them as early in the year as January 2nd and similar observations 

 have been reported from various parts of Great Britain. Thus Cunninghams states, that 

 elvers transparent as glass with exception of the eyes and a pigment streak along the 

 vertebral column are common in Plymouth Sound from February to May or June or 

 even later. They are often found at ebb-tide in tide-pools or under stones and can be 

 taken with the hands without difficulty. 



Holland. According to Hoek4 eel-fry of 65—75 mm. in length were taken with 

 the pelagic net in the Zuiderzee on May 22nd and 23rd 1888. Thus ca. 25 specimens 

 were taken near Edam harbour on the surface over a depth of 8 feet. A single specimen 

 was also taken in the eastern part of the Zuiderzee at Schokland, also with the pelagic 

 net. The depth here was 10 feet. 



Germany. On the German sides one specimen was taken in the central part of 

 the North Sea, namely at 54°14' N., 3°2' E. over a depth of 25 fathoms. The specimen, 

 which was 8 cm. long, was taken in a vertical haul from a depth of 45 meters on March 

 6th, 1895, 9'30 p. m. 



Norway. Collett^ mentions several catches of eel-fry in the sea off the coasts 

 of Norway. He himself has taken one specimen (length 62 mm.) amongst small herring 

 at Linde Island off Christiania/. "Dr. Nordgaard has likewise captured a number of 

 tiny fry with a total length of 65 mm. from a depth of 15 — 20 m. 7 in a dredge in the 

 outer part of Saiten Fjord (a little south of Bodo) on April 5th 1900." "The fry can be 



1 Andrew Scott, On the Occurrence and Habits of Leptocephalus (Report for i8g8 on the Lancashire 

 Sea-Fisheries Laboratory, Liverpool, 1899, p. 18). 



2 J. Couch. A History of the Fishes of the British Islands, vol. IV. London 1865, p. 312 el seq. 



3 J. T. Cunningham, On the Reproduction and Development of the Conger. (Jour. Marine Biol. Association 

 of the United Kingdom, vol.11 (N. S.), 1891—9«, p. 42.) 



4 P. P. C. HoEK, Verslag Staat Nederl. Zeevisscherijen over 1889, Bijlage III, p. 250. 



5 V. Hensen & Apstein, Die Nordsee-Expedition 1895 des Deutschen Seefischerei-Vereins. (Wissenschaftl. 

 Meeresuntersuch.il, 2, 1897, p. 25,) 



6 R. Collett, Meddelelser om Norges Fiske i Aarene 1S84 — 1901, p.41, 1905. 



7 I have examined these eel-fry from Linde Island and Saiten Fjord. They belong to Stage 5. 



