GENERAL REMARKS ON THE EGGS OF MARINE FISHES. 21 



case accorded fairly well with the captures of adult cod at that 

 time (1884) in the several areas. 



No sight can be more interesting to the naturalist than the 

 surface of the sea, in the condition just mentioned, about the 

 beginning of April. The rough water of the great fishing 

 grounds, such as off Smith Bank, and somewhat further from 

 land, is enlivened by large groups of gulls, guillemots and the 

 ubiquitous gannets, apparently feeding on the smaller fishes 

 which have been attracted to the surface by the wealth of food. 

 At short intervals the long dorsal fin of a huge "killer" appears 

 above the surface and the water behind it is churned into foam 

 by the powerful strokes of its screw-like tail ; while a small 

 group of bottle-noses (another kind of toothed whale — the 

 ca'ing whale of the Shetland Islands) is recognized by the noise 

 and spray, as one or more leap like dolphins from the sides of a 

 huge wave. The tow-nets collect large quantities of eggs and 

 larval fishes which have just been hatched. They further show 

 that innumerable minute crustaceans (Copepods &c.), multitudes 

 of the young or nauplius-stage of sea-acorns and other forms, 

 Sagittce (arrow-like worms), and many peculiar annelids are 

 present. It is evident, therefore, that the young fishes are 

 placed in the midst of a rich surface-fauna, the more minute 

 forms of which would readily serve as food as soon as the supply 

 of yolk disappears and the mouth opens. 



In the study of nature and nature's ways the naturalist 

 is often brought face to face with truths bewildering in their 

 remorseless fatality, but few chapters of animal development 

 present one with such a history of ruthless destruction of the 

 many and survival of the few as that presented here. A 

 ripe female cod may at a low estimate be reckoned to give rise 

 to 5,000,000 eggs (though in nature it is doubtful if all these 

 are available), and as we have no reason to believe that the 

 number of cod is appreciably increasing we may say with 

 certainty that 4,999,998 of these, at some stage of their career 

 from the egg to the mature adult, will meet with an untimely 

 death at the hands of countless enemies. Facts such as these 

 bring home the intensity of the struggle for existence going 

 on around us even in so large and open an arena as that 



