420 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



carried on in the central area of the Irish Sea. Adult 

 specimens of the Norwegian top-knot are very rare, but 

 the small size of the fish may prevent its capture by 

 ordinary trawling methods. Top-knot eggs were present 

 in Port Erin Bay and in the open sea surface plankton 

 from April 1st to 27th in 1907. The records obtained 

 from the plankton collected in 1908 showed that the eggs 

 were present for nearly three months. The first eggs 

 were observed on April 2nd, and they did not finally 

 disappear until June 27th. The majority of the surface 

 collections taken during that period contained at least 

 one or two top-knot eggs. The occurrences were more 

 limited in 1909. The eggs made their appearance on 

 April 6th, and were not seen after the 14th of that 

 month. No top-knot eggs were observed in the plankton 

 of the area in 1910 and 1911. They were only present 

 once in 1912, and were represented in a surface collection 

 taken on July 1st. The only larval top-knot that was 

 observed during the whole of the six years' investigations 

 was captured in the surface net on July 4th, 1912. 



Lepidorhombus megastoma, Donov. — Megrim. 



The pelagic eggs of the megrim or sail-fluke are 

 frequently captured by the surface nets in the area off 

 the south-west of the Isle of Man from March to the end 

 of May. The adult fish are fairly plentiful on the west 

 and south-west of the island in the deep water, where 

 the bottom consists of very soft mud. Spawning females 

 have been trawled there occasionally by the Fisheries 

 steamer when carrying on special investigations for the 

 purpose of locating the spawning grounds in the Irish 

 Sea, in the early days of our scientific work. In 1907 

 the eggs were present in the plankton collected on 

 March 29th and onwards until April 27th. The distribu- 



