746 ZOOLOGICAL 
SOCIETY 
BULLETIN. 
COMMON SKATE. 
Upper side. 
In the young fishes, before they descend to the 
bottom, the eyes are symmetrically placed, one 
on either side of the head. If they were to re- 
main in this position, one of the eyes would be 
directed downward against the bottom and would 
be entirely useless. During the metamorphosis, 
however, the eye of the lower side shifts its po- 
sition till it appears on the other side of the 
head. This is brought about in two different 
ways, according to the species. In those species 
in which the dorsal fin does not extend forward 
on top of the head, the eye shifts around the top 
of the head till it comes into the final position, 
but in those species which have the dorsal fin ex- 
tended upon the head. the eye actually migrates 
through the tissues of the head between the fin 
and the frontal bone to get into its functional 
position. This is one of the most remarkable 
phenomena in the life history of any fish, but 
its adaptive significance is unquestionable. 
In swimming slowly the dorsal and anal fins, 
which are developed to such an extent that they 
nearly surround the body, move in a wave-like 
motion similar to that of the lateral paired fins 
of the skate. In more rapid swimming the 
whole body is undulated as in other fishes, but 
because of the position of the body the undula- 
tions are vertical instead of horizontal. 
Many of the flounders have the peculiar habit 
of burying themselves in the sand with the prom- 
inent eyes protruding above the surface. In 
size, they range from small species a few inches 
in length to the huge halibuts which attain a 
length of eight feet and a weight of 500 pounds. 
The eggs of this group are small and float at 
the surface, and it has been estimated that the 
halibut produces 3,500,000 eggs at one time. 
R. C. O. 
AQUARIUM NOTES. 
Contributions:—During the past year the 
New York Zoological Society has acquired by 
purchase for exhibition at the Aquarium, 414 
specimens of tropical life from the Bermudas, in 
five shipments, and 192 local fishes from the 
steamer Angler. The Zoological Society has 
received in gifts for use at the Aquarium, one 
pair of Alaska fur-seal pups and 3,820,000 
trout and salmon spawn from the United States 
Bureau of Fisheries, besides 397 specimens from 
seventy-six private dcnors. In addition to this 
we have exchanged for ninety-seven and bought 
twelve specimens. Eleven seining trips were 
made to the various parks of the City with the 
result that 3,303 specimens for exhibition and 
food were obtained. Our official collector, Mr. 
John J. DeNyse, collected 505 fish, 4,185 in- 
vertebrates and 750,000 spawn for exhibits, be- 
sides much material for scientific work. We 
have had twelve contributors to the library. 
