SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 95 



matter of only a few years. Probably, then, those 

 specimens which one sees are very seldom fully 

 developed. Now and then, however, I have seen marine 

 fish which show, by their extreme emaciation, the morbid 

 influence of sarcomatous growths exhibited by them. In 

 such cases there is always more or less breakdown of the 

 tissues of the tumours. 



Such a case is very well illustrated by a cod sent to 

 me by Mr. F. Stokes, Port Sanitary Inspector at 

 Grimsby, and it may be useful to describe this fish in 

 some detail. It was a full-grown fish rather over 3 feet 

 in length. It is represented in Text-fig. 3, which, 

 however, minimises the emaciation of the fish. The 

 degree of emaciation was extreme, and was best seen by 

 looking at the fish from the dorsal aspect. The tumour 

 was about 8 inches in diameter, well raised, and 

 occupying the right side of the fish between the second 

 dorsal and the first ventral fin. It was a (relatively) 

 huge growth. It looked far larger than the photograph 

 indicates, but its volume can be estimated by looking at 

 the degree of curvature of the lateral line. The fish had 

 been gutted, but fragments of the viscera remaining 

 behind showed that it was a sexually mature and ripe 

 male. The tumour had no connection with the body 

 cavity, though it bulged into the latter. 



It was very soft to the touch, and its substance was 

 evidently almost liquid. On feeling it carefully, fairly 

 hard objects could be made out quite unattached, and 

 floating in the liquid part. On cutting into it the 

 substance flowed out. It had exactly the colour and 

 consistency of newly-cooked oatmeal porridge, but there 

 were irregularly solid bodies in this viscous mass about 

 an inch or so in diameter. These had the consistency of 

 ripe Gorgonzola cheese. They were easily broken down, 



