MYXINID^E. 365 



sores, or obtains access by the gills and devours its victim with the exception of 

 the bones and skin. In many places fish left a tide when on the hooks are found 

 to have been totally devoured.* It seems to prefer a muddy or clayey to a sandy 

 bottom. Off Flamborough Mr. Bailey remarks, " Talking to one of oar old 

 fishermen, he tells me that some years ago borers were so numerous in various 

 places in the North Sea tbat fishermen had frequently to remove their fishing 

 lines on to some other ground, on account of the borers getting at their fish while 

 caught on the hook, and destroying the whole catch." The amount of slime it 

 exudes from its body is very great. f 



Although Thompson refers to this fish having been taken with a baited hook, 

 such an instance must be extremely rare. Mr. Cocks, at Falmouth, found one 

 partly digested in the stomach of a cod. 



'Breeding.— Steenstrup (CEfvers. Dansk. Vid. Selsk. F6rh. 1863, p. 233, c. fig.) 

 remarks on the eggs of this fish in situ, which were in a state of maturity. They 

 were ovate in form, about 15 mm. long, and 8 mm. broad, enveloped in a horny 

 case, at either end of which were a bundle of short threads, each of which ended in 

 a treble hook, causing them to adhere one to another, and also to any contiguous 

 objects. The males are said to be the smaller, and to be but seldom found. 



Habitat. — Northern and western coasts of Europe, and Atlantic coast of North 

 America. Very numerous off Norway. It has been more frequently recorded 

 from the eastern than from the western shores of the British Isles. Wick (Reid) : 

 common in the Moray Firth (Zool. 1851) : also off Banffshire (Edward) : 

 Aberdeen (Sim), and occasionally on the cod at St. Andrew's (Mcintosh) : Firth 

 of Forth (Goodsir) : Berwickshire (Johnston). An example from Newcastle is 

 in the British Museum. Resident and abundant from Redcar to Flamborough 

 (Yorkshire Vertebrata) . I have obtained it from Weymouth. Rare in Cornwall 

 (Cornish Fauna) : Swansea (Dillwyn). 



Ireland. — Dalkey, County of Dublin (Wright) : Carrickfergus (Templeton). 



The specimen figured was obtained among several others at Weymouth. One 

 14 inches long was taken from a cod fish in the Moray Firth in January, 1849. 

 Couch alludes to one 15 inches long. 



* Some forms of sessile-eyed crustaceans similarly devour fish, see Day, Proc. Zool. Society, 

 1884. 



t See J. E. Blomfield " on the thread-cells and epidermis of Myxine " (Quarterly Journal 

 Micros. Sc. 1882, xxx, pp. 355-361, pi. xxx). 



