THE GOBY FAMILY. 171 



these fishes, and so had Hoffman. The southern forms would 

 appear to spawn considerably earlier in the j'ear than those 

 from the north, to judge from the size of the eggs in a female 

 obtained in Guernsey in August. When describing the eggs 

 of the freckled goby in July 1890, Mr Holt referred to the 

 spindle-shaped egg-capsules of the black goby and gave a 

 figure of a preserved specimen. They are not uncommon in 

 the Channel Islands, where the species is frequently met with 

 between tide-marks, and the eggs are fixed in rows to various 

 bodies by the peculiar network so characteristic of the eggs of 

 gobies (Plate II, figs. 11 and 12). An excellent account has been 

 given of the eggs of this and other species of goby by Dr C G. 

 Petersen^, the able Director of the Biological Station of the 

 Danish Government. He also refers to the spindle-shaped out- 

 line of these eggs, and the narrowing towards the surface of 

 attachment, viz. mussels, stones, ascidians, wood, and sea-weeds. 

 They measure I'o mm. long, and have the same loose network of 

 attachment as in the other species ; the edge of the network 

 ends in long filaments as formerly described. As soon as these 

 eggs are laid in salt water, the membrane in which they are 

 enveloped bursts, remaining at the lower pole as the network 

 just mentioned. The free end of the egg is able to swing when 

 the water is in motion. The yolk is opaque, lemon-coloured, 

 and has many oil-globules. The larvae when hatched are 3 mm. 

 long (Plate VII, fig. 4), and show a series of black chromato- 

 phores along the central edge of the muscle-plates from the 

 vent to the tail. Only a single spot occurs about the posterior 

 fourth on the dorsal edge. Dr Petersen found that this species 

 was two years in reaching full size, whereas he thought 

 the other species attained their full growth in one year. 

 He is also of opinion that this species is less partial to pure, 

 clear and cool water than the doubly-spotted and freckled 

 gobies. Recently Mr Holt figured a post-larval form of 

 11 mm. (Plate VII, fig. 5) procured on the West coast of 

 Ireland, on the 11th June, which would show that the spawning- 

 period is similar to that of the other forms. In this the air- 

 bladder is large ; the eyes are black with a dark greenish sheen 

 ' Fiskeri-Beretning, 1891 — 92. Kj^beuhavn. 



