218 Prof. M‘Intosh’s Notes from the 
pelagic young, yet the adults are by no means plentiful in 
rock-pools or in the laminarian region. The eggs are a 
favourite food of many fishes and some birds, so that 
destruction begins early in the life-history. The larval and 
post-larval forms are pelagic and may be caught at the surface 
in inshore water, for their range at this stage appears to be 
greater than that of the Shanny, just as the range of the 
adult extends beyond the tidal region into the neighbouring 
sea, ‘Their gaudy coloration and protective spines, however, 
do not prevent a serious reduction in their numbers, so that 
the contrast between thecrowds of young and the comparatively 
few adults is noteworthy. 
The eggs of the Lumpsucker, though the adult is not 
strictly a littoral fish, are perhaps the most conspicuous 
demersal eggs on our shores *, both in regard to numbers 
and coloration, and they have the further interest in that they 
are faithfully guarded by the males. The newly hatched 
young are pelagic, and often swarm in the rock-pools and 
adjoining inshore areas, while the subsequent stages—to 
nearly 20 mm. in length—are also pelagic, though some of 
the larger are fixed by the sucker to floating pieces of sea- 
weed (fuc?) and thus are captured in the tow-nets. They 
(the larger) can, however, swim rapidly from place to place 
on separation from the weeds. Their greenish tints—with 
remarkable touches of silvery white—and their peculiar 
papillae: do not seem to prevent a great reduction in numbers 
from this stage onwards, chiefly by the attacks of predatory 
fishes. ‘The adults are certainly comparatively few in contrast 
with the masses of ova and the swarms of post-larval 
specimens, though from their frequenting the region beyond 
low-water mark there is less opportunity for observation than 
in the case of the Shanny. Besides, seals are fond of the 
adults and many of the males fall victims to their faithful 
guardianship of the eggs. While this species is in greater 
numbers than such as the Shanny, its habits and its size prove 
fatal, for it 1s caught in considerable masses in the salmon 
bag-nets off rocky coasts, and in former times was used to feed 
the pigs of the fishermen. The adults are also occasionally 
caught on hooks 20-30 miles from land. 
The Gunnels deposit their eggs in masses about the size 
of a walnut between tide-marks, and the parents watch them 
during incubation. A large number of hardy larval fishes 
are produced, and during a considerable portion of their early 
growth (larval and post-larval) they are pelagic and often 
* They were produced to the Royal Commission on Trawling, in 
1883, as the eges of the haddock. 
