HABITS AND LIFE HISTORY OF THE TOADFISH. IO79 



The egg is permanently oriented with the ventral pole of the yolk fixed to 

 that part of the egg membrane which is fastened to the object acting as a nest. 

 The part of the eggshell there attached is not, as Miss Clapp (i 899-1 899a) 

 indicates, always opposite the micropyle, but generally so. So far as my obser- 

 vations go, in the great majority of cases the micropyle is opposite the point of 

 attachment, but it may vary within a zone bounded by a circle about 30° away 

 from the animal pole. The blastoderm, and consequently the embryo, as pointed 

 out by Ryder (1886 and 1887) and Miss Clapp (1891 and 1899a), are at the 

 animal pole opposite the point of attachment, though here we find the same 

 variation as is noted for the position of the micropyle. 



Just here it is \\orth while to correct an error into which nearly all those 

 who have described this fish and its young have fallen. Storer (1855), more 

 than a half century ago, in describing the habits of the toadfish, says: 



We may see the eggs, not larger than very small shot; a little later they are in- 

 creased in size, and the young fish are plainly visible through their walls; a little later 

 Still the young have made their escape (i. e., have burst their eggshells), but are still 

 attached to the stone. The attachment now, however, is accomplished in a different 

 manner. The yolk, not being yet absorbed, occupies a rounded sac protruding by a 

 narrow orifice from the abdomen, and the part of the sac near its outer border, being 

 constricted, leaves external to it a disk, by means of which, acting as a sucker, the 

 young fish adheres so firmly as to occasion difficulty in detaching it. 



The error here occurs in the idea that there is any "sucker" at the basal 

 portion of the yolk stalk. The egg is simply glued to its support in a manner 

 to be explained presently. It should, however, be stated that Storer did not 

 get his information at first hand, but expressly credits it to Dr. William O. 

 Ayres, of East Hartford, Conn. This, as previously stated, must have been 

 communicated orally or by letter, since it is not found in Ayres's paper (1842). 



Jordan and Evermann (1898), in their great work, " The Fishes of North and 

 Middle America," fall into the same error in describing "the young clinging to 

 the rocks by a ventral sucking disk." And Jordan (1905), in his " Guide to the 

 Study of Fishes" speaks of "the young clinging to stones by a sucking disk on 

 the belly, a structure which is early lost." And, last in point of time. Smith 

 (1907), in his "Fishes of North Carolina," says that "for some time after hatch- 

 ing the young remain attached by means of a special sucking disk." 



Ryder (1886) was the first to call attention to this error and to explain 

 that the attachment was due to an adhesion of the eggshell to the nest. Later 

 (1887) he correctly describes and figures the eggs as attached by means of an 

 "adhesive membrane," but does not refer to the origin of this. In 1890 Ryder 

 quotes Jordan and Gilbert as to this voluntary adhesion of the young, expressly 

 corrects their error, and goes on to show definitely how the eggs adhere to the 

 membrane and how the membrane is glued to the nest. Miss Clapp, in the three 



