No. 2.] THE OVARIAN EGG OF LIMULUS. I 17 



arable distances. Isolated females are also met with ; but 

 oviposition in the absence of the male was not observed. 



I can confirm Lockwood's observation to the effect that they 

 deposit their eggs at the point reached by the highest tides. 

 But Kingsley is also right when he affirms that there are 

 exceptions to this rule. Thus I have found them ovipositing 

 at a point where I was in some doubt as to whether the eggs 

 would ever be exposed to direct rays of the sun. On the 

 other hand, the nests can be found at the point reached by the 

 high tides, even where no superficial evidence of their presence 

 is visible, — an evidence that they are numerous at that point. 

 During oviposition the animals may be covered with as much 

 as a foot or more of water ; but they usually approach so near 

 shore that their carapace is only partly covered. 



The act of ovipositing is apparently accompanied with con- 

 siderable activity and excitement, which is indicated by an 

 accumulation of air bubbles on the surface of the water, form- 

 ing a distinct line, extending in the direction of movement of 

 the animals. By pursuing this line, they can be traced for 

 considerable distances. In ovipositing, the female is partly 

 buried in the sand, and only slight movements are visible from 

 above ; but the appendages are evidently in rapid motion, exca- 

 vating a deep cavity from which the finer sand becomes sifted 

 out, and into which the eggs are discharged. The eggs thus 

 come to lie in the midst of sand peculiarly resembling the 

 eggs both in size and appearance. 



Careful examination of these nests would seem to indicate 

 that the terminal oviducts are discharged into each nest. 



It seems probable that most, but not all, of the eggs con- 

 tained in the ovarian tubes are laid during one season. The 

 females captured on June i usually show a turgid condition 

 of the ovary. At the end of the laying season, on the other 

 hand, the ovarian tubes are nearly collapsed. 



On the other hand, there is much evidence to show that a 

 female Limulus does not oviposit every year, and that females 

 having the ovarian tubes filled with eggs may, even in a state 

 of nature, carry these over at least one season. On the 

 twenty-fifth of October, in Long Island Sound, females were 



