1891.] BATHYBIAL TISH FROM THE BAY OF BENGAL. 227 



half a millimetre in the major diameter and a little less in the other 

 diameters. 



The fact of the viviparitv of Saccogaster maculata being thus 

 established, we may infer that the genital papilla of the male is an 

 organ for effecting the internal impregnation of the ova. 



In the female no copulatory modification of the oviduct can be 

 made out ; but the circumference of the genital pore is thickened 

 and spongy. 



In the males of two other Brotuline Ophidiids (namely, Dine- 

 matichthys iluocoeteoides and By tliites fuscus) post-anal appendages 

 have been described, and as a converse inquiry we may ask whether 

 these two species may not be viviparous. 



The inflated condition of the abdomen in Saccogaster maculata is 

 doubtless directly related to the viviparous process ; but it is 

 interesting to note that this character is nearly as well marked in 

 the adult male as in the adult female. 



Again, the peculiar arrangement of the scales, which are scattered 

 and non-imbricating, is probably one of the implications of intra- 



Saccogaster maculata. 



abdominal gestation ; for it would facilitate the increasing distension 

 of the abdomen which must follow the growth and enlargement of 

 the embryos. And it is worthy of note that this character also is 

 as conspicuous in the male as it is in the female. 



The drawing represents the male of Saccogaster maculata, natural 

 size. 



These notes are, I am well aware, very incomplete. We 

 require to know something of the histological appearances of the 

 ovarian wall — whether or not it is furnished with glands or other 

 structures which might supply nutriment to the developing embryo, 

 through the yolk-sac or otherwise. We require to know more of 

 the details of structure of the embryo — whether or not it possesses 

 any organs for absorbing nutriment beyond that supplied by the 

 yolk. But the scanty material available is not in a fit state for 

 histological manipulation ; and as the capture of a pregnant female 

 of a particular species of deep-sea fish is not an event to be calcu- 

 lated upon with any certainty, I venture to present these rough 

 notes on an interesting subject just as they are. 



