126 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Trachinus vipera, Cuv. and Val. — Lesser Weever. 



The eggs of the lesser weever or sting-fish appeared to be 

 generally distributed in the coastal waters of the Irish Sea, 

 Cardigan and Carnarvon Bays in May, June, July, and August. 

 They were rarely met with in the plankton collected in the 

 central area. The number of eggs present in the plankton 

 usually ranged from one to eighteen. A collection taken in 

 Carnarvon Bay on June 3rd, however, contained sixty-four 

 lesser weever eggs. 



Callionymus lyra, Linn. — Dragonet. 



The characteristic eggs of the dragonet, which can be 

 readily recognised by the hexagonal markings on the outside 

 of the shell, were observed as early as January 23rd in a sample 

 of plankton collected in Ramsey Bay. The eggs were generally 

 distributed in the off-shore and coastal waters of the Irish 

 Sea until June 5th. One sample collected twenty-four miles 

 W.N.W. from Piel Gas Buoy on May 5th was estimated to 

 contain nine thousand six hundred dragonet eggs. Another 

 from near Nelson Buoy on May 9th contained one thousand 

 eggs. Plankton collected in Carnarvon Bay on May 15th 

 contained fifty-one dragonet eggs. Another collection taken 

 on May 27th contained one hundred eggs. Dragonet eggs 

 apparently disappeared from the Irish Sea after June 5th, and 

 from Carnarvon Bay after July 22nd. The eggs in one of the 

 large catches were measured to find out how much variation 

 in size occurred amongst them. It was found that the smallest 

 egg measured 0-72 mm. in diameter, and the largest egg 0-86 

 mm. in diameter — a difference of 0-14 mm. Mcintosh and 

 Masterman give the size as 0-686 mm. in diameter. Professor 

 Ehrenbaum gives the size as 0-69 mm. to 0-94 mm. in 

 " Nordisches Plankton." There is evidently a considerable 

 variation in the size of the eggs of the dragonet in the North 

 Sea and in the Irish Sea. 



