THE SUCKER FAMILY. 191 



not without probability. In the Scandinavian Fishes Ekstrdm 

 found a ripe female 130 mm. long at the beginning of May, 

 the " running roe " being of a light carmine colour, the eggs 

 slightly more than 1 mm. in diameter. Sars met with young 

 specimens up to 15 mm. in length swimming at the surface in 

 July. Unfortunately no ripe example has been procured at 

 St Andrews. 



Montagu's Sucker. {Cyclogaster Montagui, Donov.) 



Couch observes of Montagu's sucker that "its time of 

 spawning is in the spring, and it has been seen greatly 

 distended with spawn in the middle of April, the spawn lying 

 loose in the ovary." Day likewise had only seen nearly ripe 

 adults. The earlier authors appear lo have overlooked the 

 eggs of this form, and, indeed, quite recently they have been 

 confounded with those of the herring. At St Andrews they 

 were almost the only eggs obtained by the local trawlers (liners 

 in their fishing boats) in February, March and April, attached 

 to zoophytes — such as Hydrallm.annia and Serhduria, and to 

 red sea-weeds — such as Belesseria, besides gooseberry bushes, 

 sticks and other debris. The men worked in comparatively 

 shallow water, viz. from 4 to 6 fathoms. Spawning, however, 

 is not confined to this region, for the eggs are occasionally 

 found near low-water mark, and on the other hand are not 

 unfrequently procured by the liners in deeper water, viz. from 

 15 to 30 fathoms. During the Trawling Expeditions specimens 

 were sometimes sent as eggs of the herring, from which they 

 are distinguished by the structure of the capsule and of the 

 yolk, and similar forms are in all probability figured attached 

 to zoophytes in the Second Annual Report of the Fishery 

 Board, Plates VIII and IX. The spawning-period ranges from 

 January to July, and several examples deposited eggs in the 

 tanks of the laboratory. These measured '045 inch (and the 

 oil-globule -0083 inch). 



The eggs (Plate II, fig. 10) are smaller than those of the short- 

 spined Cottus or than those of the herring ('0615 inch), from 



