THE FLOUNDER FAMILY. 359 



latter whilst they were attempting to devour the masses of 

 the ova of the plaice, which were supposed at that time to 

 abound inshore upon the sea-floor. 



The light of further research shows us that the shrimp 

 carries its own eggs below its body, and also that the plaice 

 sheds its eggs out at sea far away from the sandy shallows 

 haunted by the shrimp. The only real connection that exists 

 between the history of the shrimp and that of the plaice is 

 that the one constitutes a staple article of diet for the other. 



By the time that the larval plaice has reached the age of 

 one week some changes have taken place in the arrangement 

 of the pigment. It has increased to a length of ^ inch and the 

 supply of yolk has diminished with a corresponding reduction 

 in size of the yolk-sac. 



The black pigment consists of a few minute spots on the 

 head and a number of branching ones upon the trunk (Plate 

 XV, fig. 1). The smaller chromatophores are situated upon the 

 ventral marginal fin, and the larger are crowded together in the 

 lateral region above the vent, on the under-surface of the stomach 

 and in a dorsal and ventral row down the trunk, extending nearly 

 to the tail. The yellow pigment, so conspicuous in the embryo, 

 and the presence of which is a characteristic feature of the 

 pleuronectids, is now confined to a small area, as a row of bright 

 spots along the hind-dorsal border of the trunk. This colora- 

 tion, in its general characters, persists to the close of larval 

 life. The little animal is very transparent and is not easily 

 recognised except by its pair of glittering eyes. Confined in 

 small tanks, it frequently bores its snout into the sand and lies 

 on one side upon it, a habit probably due to the abnormal 

 circumstances under which it is placed in the laboratory. 



One or two of the earliest post-larval forms have been well 

 figured by Dr Ehrenbaum' and they fill in the gap between 

 the preceding and the youngest free forms caught in the tow- 

 nets, which are nearly half-an-inch in length (Plate XV, figs. 2 

 and 3). They occur mostly in April in St Andrews Bay. 

 The smallest are still perfectly symmetrical, but in the larger 

 ones the left eye has begun its extraordinary journey, and 



1 Eier u. Larven von Fischen der deutschen Bucht. Wissensch. Meers, 1896. 



