300 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



(Umbrida), Killi-Fishes (Cyprinodonts), in which the anal fin is 

 modified into a long intermittent organ in the male, to Surf- 

 Fishes (Embiotocidce-Labyrinthieci), such as the White Surf- 

 Fish (Cymatog aster aggregatus) with very large j 7 oung. Even 

 the blind Brotula (Lucifuga subterranea) of Cuba, one of the 

 Blennies, is in this condition. 



Whilst the previous methods of reproduction are both 

 important and interesting, they hold but a minor position when 

 contrasted with the striking and far-reaching influence of the 

 discharge of pelagic eggs — a method so prevalent in the marine 

 food-fishes ; for, strange to say, almost the entire series comes 

 under this category — only the Herring, the Wolf-Fish, and the 

 Norway Haddock being the exceptions. It is this pelagic 

 condition of the vast swarms of the minute eggs which has 

 preserved these valuable fishes from serious diminution by man, 

 whose fishing apparatus — often on a gigantic scale — searches 

 the seas in every clime and especially in the much-frequented 

 North Sea and the coasts of Europe, the American shores, those 

 of Asia, Africa, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Fears, it 

 is true, are ever present with those whose scientific knowledge 

 of the subject is limited, and new methods of fishing have not 

 always been welcome, yet both conditions have existed for many 

 centuries and will, in all probability, continue. Some may 

 remember the general clamour on the introduction of steam- 

 trawling into Scottish waters, and the resolute opposition it met 

 with on every side from members of Parliament to line- and net- 

 fishermen, yet in some instances the same method had been 

 practised by the liners in their sailing boats for many years, and 

 it was only the appearance of powerful steam vessels to compete 

 with them in their own areas which roused opposition. Yet, 

 after all, there is little difference, for instance, between captur- 

 ing tons of Plaice by aid of hundreds of nets hung thickly 

 throughout a bay, and sweeping them from the bottom by either 

 beam or other trawl ; indeed, many adult Plaice escape the two 

 latter by sinking in the sand. But capture persistently as 

 man may, the pelagic eggs and larvae spread each species widely 

 over the sea, many by-and-by having a definite drift as larval or 

 post-larval forms — irrespective of those diverse currents, salinities 

 and temperature of which we hear so much from recent investiga- 



