772 BEPORT— 1892. 



trate our efforts oa the more valuable kinds of flat fish, especially turhot, brill, and 

 soles, since the results, if successful, would be of infinitely greater value than an 

 increase in the supply of such forms as the cod. I do not, however, believe that 

 any success we may attain in this direction will justify us in neglectiuo- the protec- 

 tion of undersized fish. ° 



4. The Food of Fish. By W. Ramsay Smith, B.Sc, M.B., CM, 



This paper gives a summary of four annual reports made by Dr. Eamsay Smith 

 to the Fishery Board for Scotland. The reports were made from materials col- 

 lected by the naturalists of the Board. The paper deals only with the most im- 

 portant fish of the Firth of Forth and St. Andrews, and gives the results of the 

 observations made there during four years, irrespective of stations and seasons of 

 the year. The statistics are so extensive as to reduce the limit of the errors of 

 observation to such an extent as allow general conclusions of a trustworthy 

 character to be drawn now for the first time from those observations, 



The species of fish and the numbers examined are as follow: — 



1. Firth of Forth : Plaice, 1,205 ; lemon soles, 831 ; common dabs, 1,211 ; long 

 rough dabs, 1,512; witch soles, 217; flounders, 75; giu-nards, 726; cod, 72?"; 

 haddocks, 874; whitings, 1,050. Total, 8,418. 



2. St. Andrews Bay : Plaice, 726 ; common dabs, 567 ; long rough dabs, 94 ; 

 gurnards, 407; haddocks, 132; whitings, 1-37. Total, 2,063. 



5. Notes on Teleosiean Bevelopment. Bij E. "W. L. Holt. 



Various forms are dealt with in the paper, but the feature of chief interest was 

 the description, for the first time, of the ovum and early larva of the turbot 

 (Rhombus maximns). Tlie ovum has a diameter of about I'Ol mm., that of the 

 single oil-globule being about -21 mm. The larva, which is hatched in about 

 eight day.«, in summer, is characterised by the ventral position of the oil-globule, 

 and especially by the extremely brilliant rust-coloured pigment. Black piginent is 

 also present, but in less quautity. 



The ova, which are pelagic in their early stages, display a tendency to sink at 

 a variable period before hatching takes place ; a condition which may 'throw difii- 

 culties in the way of the artificial propagation of this species. 



6. The Effect «f Sea Water on the Vitality of the Salmon Fungus. 



By A. P. Swan. 



7, On the Formation of Argenteous Matter in the Integument of Teleosteans. 



By Professor E. E. Prince. 



During larval life the integument of Teleosteans is of a very simple character, 

 and consists of two layers, an ectodermal external layer (epidermis) in which an 

 outer corneous layer can be made out, and an inner mucous stratum, the latter 

 generally several cells deep and giving origin to enlarged mucous cells; while 

 internal to the epidermis is the mesodermic layer or true cutis, out of which the 

 scales are developed. Below the mesoderm layer the muscle masses occur. In 

 many young bony fishes this mesoderm layer is represented by a stratum of 

 granular plasma, which takes a deep tint in stained preparations ; and it is limited 

 internally by a thin layer of flattened cells in which large pigment corpuscles occur. 

 In such diverse forms as the Gadoids, Labrus, Anarrhichas, &c., this layer of 

 granular plasma is well marked, and in it the fibrillated substance is formed to 

 which the integument of many fishes owes its silvery lustre. In the mackerel 

 midge, now known to be the small post-larval stage of certain species of Motella, 

 this deposit of fibrillated matter is noteworthy. In a specimen {\ in. long its 



