EGGS AND LARVAE OF TELEOSTEANS. 103 



9. Cottus scorpius, Linn. (PL VI. fig. 2). 



The eggs ascribed to this species were brought in to the station on February 

 14 of the present year. They formed large masses of dark red colour, and 

 were attached to the rocks between tide marks. The ova are but slightly 

 translucent ; the zona radiata is. thick. The figure shows the appearance under 

 a low power of the microscope. The yolk is homogeneous, except for the 

 presence of scattered oil globules, irregular in number and size, and contains 

 the pigment, which, yellowish-red as seen in each separate ovum, gives the 

 whole mass a darker red colour. The diameter of the vitelline membrane is 

 203 mm., of the ovum 1*81. The identification is founded on some remarks of 

 Professor M'Intosh, who observed the deposition of similar eggs in the 

 aquarium of the Marine Laboratory at St Andrews (see Third Annual Report 

 Scottish Fishery Board, 1885, App. F.). 



Agassiz # has stated that the eggs of Cottus groenlandicus, which is only a 

 variety of Cottus scorpius, are pelagic. His conclusion rests apparently on the 

 identification of the oldest stage of larvae from a certain kind of pelagic eggs 

 with the adult Cottus, and this mode of identification is of course not abso- 

 lutely certain. 



10. Liparis Montagui, Cuv. (PI. VI. figs. 3, 4). 



Small masses of adhesive eggs are frequently obtained attached to tufts of 

 Hydrallmannia falcata, Hincks. I have obtained such specimens in the months 

 of May and June, both from long lines laid outside the Isle of May and from 

 the dredge in the upper parts of the Firth. By the fishermen the eggs in 

 question are usually believed to come from the herring or the haddock, and 

 even naturalists of some experience have confounded them with herring spawn, 

 which also often adheres to specimens of Hydrallmannia. The mass from 

 which fig. 3 was taken was attached to a piece of Hydrallmannia left by the 

 tide on the beach near Cramond Island, and was obtained May 7, 1886. The 

 longest diameter of the egg, including the vitelline membrane (zona radiata) 

 was 1*27 mm., the transverse diameter of the yolk sac '87 mm. The zona 

 radiata is of considerable thickness, and shows a division into two layers. The 

 yolk is homogeneous and transparent, and contains three or more oil globules of 

 various sizes. The mass of eggs seen with the unaided eye was colourless and 

 transparent. I have identified the ova as those of Liparis Montagui, from some 

 remarks of Prof. MTntosh in Keport on the St Andrews Laboratory, in the 

 Third Annual Report of the Scottish Fishery Board, but the identification is 



* Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts and Scl, vol. xvii. ; and Memoirs of Mus. Comp. Zool., Harvard, vol. xiv. 

 No. 1, pt. i. 



