THE GOBY FAMILY. 169 



eggs. The latter with this exception are completely isolated. 

 Mr Holt likewise traced the development of this curious process 

 for attachment in the roe of the parent fish, so that there can 

 he no doubt about its identity. 



The larval gobies 3 to 3'5 mm. (Plate VII, fig. 3) appear in 

 the bottom-nets towards the end of April and in May, and they 

 are readily distinguished by the air-bladder, and by their color- 

 ation. Of a living one of the latter size from St Andrews, 

 Mr Holt' observes " the vent is slightly anterior to median, the 

 pectorals are large and fan-shaped, and the embryonic dorsal 

 commences opposite the pectoral girdle. Larval fin-rays occur 

 in the tail. There is a considerable pre-anal fin.... The eye is 

 greenish yellow^" Black stellate chromatophores, with yellow 

 amongst them, occur below the anterior end of the notochord, 

 extending as far back as the air-bladder. The latter is greenish, 

 with black dendritic pigment. " Above the vent and between 

 that and the air-bladder are two large masses of gamboge- 

 yellow pigment (reddish-brown by transmitted light), over each 

 of which is a large black stellate chromatophore. Small black 

 chromatophores extend along the ventral edge of the anterior 

 two-thirds of the abdomen and along the ventral edge of the 

 post-anal region to a point a little short of the tail. Midway 

 between the vent and the tail is another yellow patch, overlaid 

 by stellate black pigment, and a similar but smaller dorsal 

 patch lies just above it. The diminished yolk seems to con- 

 sist almost entirely of small oil-globules." 



In those of 5 mm., in the bottom-nets, the yellowish coloration 

 is lost in spirit, but a group of black chromatophores occurs on 

 the occiput and immediately behind, while the post-anal region 

 has four symmetrical black touches — two on the dorsal edge 

 and two at the ventral. A single row of black specks occurs 

 along the middle line of the abdomen. The upward slope of 

 the mandible is marked. 



In June they range from 7 mm. to 1.5 mm., but numerous 

 examples are only from 3 to 3o mm. not only in inshore waters, 

 but in the deeper areas, such as the Moray Frith, and generally 



I ap. cit. p. 37. 



•' From the dorsum, silvery when viewed laterally. 



