116 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Spawning of Fish. — Last week 1 was fortunate to get hold of two 

 of tlie OadidcB, heavy with roe. The first was Gadus pollarhhis, or the 

 Whiting Pollack of Couch, of about 12 lbs. weight, the roe of which was 

 15 oz. On weighing a half grain, and counting them and computing the 

 number, I found it contained 4,200,000 eggs. My next fish was the Gadus 

 virens, or the Coalfish of Couch, and 21tt)S. weight, the roe being 33 oz. 

 Here I again weighed and counted a half grain, and on working out the 

 result I found it to contain 8,260,000 ova. There was not the least 

 difiBculty at getting at these results. After allowing the eggs to remain in 

 boiling water a few minutes tliey readily separated, and a magnifying glass 

 and needle soon told the story. From these figures I think we may 

 reasonably expect that Whiting Pollacks of 20 lbs. weight may be expected 

 to give about 7,000,000 eggs, and Coalfish of 30 lbs. weight full 12,000,000 

 of eggs. — Matthias Dunn iMevagissey, Cornwall, Jan. 22). 



Greater Pipe-fish in Mount's Bay.— 1 received, on February 16th, 

 a very good specimen of the Greater Pipe-fish, or Greater Sea-adder 

 {Synf/ii((thus acits) taken in Mount's Bay. It was a female heavy with roe, 

 but not in a fit state for preservation. I do not regard the fish as a rare 

 cue iu our British seas, but only as one the occurrence of which usually 

 escapes observation. — T. Cornish (Penzance). 



CRUSTACEA. 



Floating Crabs at Penzance. — I have recovered from a derelict water- 

 logged barrel of paraffin, which drifted ashore near Newlyn West, four 

 specimens of the " Floating Crab," Planes Liiinaana. They were found in 

 the seaweed which had attached itself to the barrel and much mixed up with 

 barnacles. They were all alive when I received them, and one of them 

 had lost its right claw and portions of its two foremost right legs. The 

 loss of the claw was evidently recent, but the loss of the legs was not so ; 

 their broken joints were blackened and shrunk. Ou the stump of the 

 foremost of these legs there was established parasitically a barnacle, of 

 course of very small size. The crab itself did not measure an inch across 

 the carapace. It is a curious coincidence that iu January, 1882, I made a 

 similar recovery of very many specimens of this crab from a derelict 

 paraffin cask picked up off Mount's Bay. Two of the four specimens of my 

 present take were males and two females, and the colours of the whole were 

 various. I hope to preserve them all, but their actual physical strength is 

 such that (as I observed in January, 1882) they require perfectly unusual 

 treatment in pinning down. I do not think I am overstepping the fact 

 when I say that a lobster of 8 lbs. weight, or a common crab of 6 lbs., 

 would succumb more readily to the pinning-down process than these little, 

 but very active and powerful, creatures, any one of which could easily be 

 placed within the hmits of one square inch. — T. Coknish (Penzance). 



