104 MR J. T. CUNNINGHAM ON THE 



not certain. M'Intosh says that the eggs of Lijiaris Montagui are found in 

 shallow water, attached to such zoophytes as Hydrallmannia and Sertularia, and 

 also to red Algae, and are of a pale straw colour. The eggs I have described 

 were well advanced in development, so that the colour may have been present 

 at an earlier stage, the colour of such eggs often disappearing as develop- 

 ment proceeds. The eyes were considerably pigmented. 



Fig. 4 is a sketch of a fish hatched from some eggs exactly similar to those 

 above described, which were taken in the trawl between Inchkeith and Burnt- 

 island, April 29, 1884. The age of the young fish was two days after hatching. 

 The eyes are deeply pigmented, the mouth completely developed, the pectoral 

 fin is large, and covered with black pigment spots, and there is a row of similar 

 spots along the ventral edge of the tail on each side. A small remnant of the 

 yolk is still present, containing a single oil-globule. 



11. Cyclopterus lumpus, Linn. (Lump-sucker) (PL VI. fig. 5). 



To amateur naturalists on the coasts of Scotland the large masses of yellow- 

 ish spawn of this fish, watched by the male parent, the " rawn and cock paidle," 

 as they are called in the Scotch dialect, are a not unfamiliar sight. I regret to 

 say I have not had an opportunity of personally observing the phenomenon in 

 its natural state. But masses of the ova of Cyclopterus have been frequently 

 brought into the station by boys; they are found attached to the rocks near the 

 station, not far from low water mark. The colour of the eggs varies from red 

 to pale yellow or nearly white. The yolk contains numerous oil globules of 

 various sizes, arranged in a cluster at the ventral pole, but is otherwise homo- 

 geneous. The perivitelline space is small. The eggs are but slightly trans- 

 lucent. The diameter is 2 60 mm., inclusive of the vitelline membrane. The 

 young Cyclopterus, when first hatched, is 4 mm. in length, but not so far 

 advanced in development as the stage figured by Agassiz * of the same length. 

 The anus is immediately behind the yolk sac, which forms such a contrast 

 in size to the tail that the fish is tadpole-like in form. The body is quite 

 opaque, and the blood red. The eyes are completely pigmented. The 

 embryonic fin fold persists extending forwards dorsally a little beyond the anal 

 region, but fin rays have appeared in the membrane. Both paired fins are 

 well developed, the ventrals forming a median sucker, which differs only from 

 that of the adult in exhibiting the fin rays in a more primitive condition. The 

 skin contains numerous regularly distributed chromatophores. 



The young Cyclopterus, both immediately after hatching and in later stages, 

 occur very plentifully among the Algae on the shore at Granton, and everywhere 

 on the British coasts. They are also frequently taken in the tow-net at a 



* Young Stages, iii. 



