IIo6 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



stages in the final absorption of the yolk, the formation and disappearance of the 

 lower yolk bulb or placenta-like stump. The fish are enlarged two times. 



Figure 12, plate cxii, is from an instantaneous photograph of part of the 

 brood from the board nest of which a series of photographs has been shown. 

 These toadlets (natural size) are in the stage described above, and, in their 

 markings, their bendings of the tail, and their crowding together, show the 

 typical toadfish characteristics. 



THE ADULT TOADFISH. 



What is the rate of growth in the toadfish? How long is required for it 

 to reach maturity? What is the normal and what the maximum sizes of the 

 fish? These are questions pertinent to this research, but unfortunately not so 

 easily answered as asked. 



The little toads at hatching at Beaufort are from 16 to 19 mm. long (^ 

 to ^ of an inch). Storer gives a length ol yi or }4 of an inch for those at 

 Woods Hole. Greene (1899) says the young of the Pacific form, Porichthys 

 notatus, are about i inch long when they become free-swimming. According 

 to Smith (1907), on March 26, 1904, a specimen 1.37 inches long was taken 

 in a seine at Beaufort. This must have been hatched late in the preceding 

 season. I have taken them in June and July about 2 inches long. Not infre- 

 quently specimens 3 to 6 inches in length are taken in Pinna shells. Goode 

 (1884) gives the length of the season's brood in September at i inch and adds: 

 "Individuals, apparently of the second year's growth, were also common, and 

 would average three-fourths of an inch in length." Doctor Gill (1907) says of 

 this, "A statement contradicted by the context and probably a lapsus calami 

 for 3 or 4 inches." For myself I am thoroughly satisfied that the 3 and 4 inch 

 individuals met with are of the preceding year's brood. 



A very incomplete series of measurements of specimens taken at Beaufort in 

 seines by the writer in 1903 and 1904 runs from 3;<2 to 8 inches in length. 

 These, however, are smaller than those previously referred to as caught and 

 made use of in this work. The following are recorded in my notes because of 

 their unusual size: Males, one 10, one 11 K. and another i2>^ inches in length; 

 females, one 10, another lo^, a third 12 inches long; sex not determined, one 

 1 2 -inch specimen. It is greatly to be regretted that a complete list of measure- 

 ments of all specimens was not kept. The writer's judgment, however, is 

 that they would measure 7 to 1 2 inches from tip of nose to end of caudal, with 

 an average of about 9 inches. 



Mitchill (181 5), the first American describer of this fish, says the length 

 is about 12 inches, breadth about 4, depth 2. Yarrow, writing of Beaufort 

 toadfish, in 1877, says that a length of 4 to 8 inches is the most common. Le 



