408 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [voL. 48 
Some quite active and free swimming fishes fall prey to a Urano- 
scope’s voracity. An individual of an Indian species (Uranoscopus 
crassiceps), occurring in deep water (at a depth of about a hundred 
fathoms), was found by Alcock (1890) with “seven entire indi- 
viduals of Scopelus pterotus besides much debris” in its stomach. 
This observation is of exceptional interest for two reasons at least. 
The Uranoscopid is a bottom fish, dependent for its food upon the 
approach of a victim near enough to be pounced upon, and the Sco- 
pelids (Myctophids) devoured must consequently have ‘approached 
sufficiently close to be so taken, thus indicating that the captured 
_ fishes probably had a diurnal range from near the surface to the 
bottom of the ocean within at least the hundred fathom linet. The 
phosphorescent emanations of the victim fishes were doubtless in 
this case detrimental to the interests of the fishes for they revealed 
their approach and facilitated their capture. 
When warm weather becomes settled, the stargazers commence 
to perform their reproductive duties and from early May to late 
September eggs in various stages of development may be found 
floating in the water. The eggs have been described by Wencke- 
bach (1886) and Raffaele (1888) and their descriptions and figures 
give many data respecting their early development. The eggs must 
be discharged and fertilized during early night (“nelle prime ore 
della notte,’ Raffaele says) because those collected in the morning 
(about seven or eight o’clock) are already quite well advanced in 
development. 
The eggs of a Uranoscope, Raffaele considered, are among the 
most interesting and characteristic of floating eggs and among the 
very best for microtomic sections. They are rather large as fish 
eggs go (1.65 to 2 millimeters in diameter) and distinguishable at 
first sight by their opacity and whiteness. The opacity depends on 
the structure of the capsule which is completely covered on the 
external surface by a regular network of hexagonal meshes; the 
mesh-like appearance results from transparent elements (“‘listrelle’’) 
perpendicular to the surface of the capsule. The vitellus is homo- 
geneous and in the first stage of development fills the cavity of the 
capsule; there are no oil-globules. The embryo rapidly progresses 
in development and while still in the egg-case reaches an advanced 
state, a true vitelline circulation being established before hatching. 
*As a matter of fact specimens obtained from dredges cast in the Andaman 
Sea to the depth of “370 to 419 fathoms” were also identified with the “ Sco- 
pelus pterotus,’ which is a true Myctophum (Ill. Zool: Investigator, Fishes, 
p. 162). This does not prove that the Myctophids were obtained from such 
a depth, although they may have been. 
