866 PROFESSOR W. C. M'INTOSH AND MR E. E. PRINCE ON 



at once attracting notice. The median rays of the pectorals have lengthened, yet the 

 ventrals are almost as long, the tips passing beyond the anus. The fleshy pad at the 

 base of the pectoral is pigmented, but otherwise both these fins and the ventrals are pale 

 in colour. The first dorsal is still short, but the second dorsal and the anal fins are 

 prominent. The caudal expansion is now truncated at the tip. The abdominal surface 

 is still coloured with black pigment. When taken out of the water the dorsum is 

 somewhat greenish, diversified here and there with black pigment just as on the occipital 

 surface, at the first dorsal, on the posterior end of the abdomen, and in the form of two 

 conspicuous wavy bands behind, i.e., in front of the tail (vide PI. XIX. fig. 11). The 

 figure here referred to is from a sketch made some days after confinement in a glass tank 

 in the laboratory, hence the coloration is modified. The abdominal region is pinkish, 

 from the contained food. The eyes are lustrous and greenish. In the laboratory the 

 young fish lay at the bottom, keeping the pectoral fins in active motion, while the 

 ventrals were spread out like a pair of wings. 



All the young forms above described were captured some distance from the bottom 

 (though they occasionally occur close to the St Andrews rocks in August), and therefore 

 the development of the fins after the disappearance of the embryonic membrane is in 

 relation to this pelagic life. The remarkable duskiness of the ventral surface, which is 

 pure white in the adult, is probably also connected with their temporary sojourn in the 

 region above the bottom. The protective spines on the opercula are, it is interesting to 

 note, very early developed. The vertebral column in the largest examples shows thin 

 transparent ossifications of the surface and of the arches, but the centra are more or less 

 notochordal. A specimen, 20*5 mm. in length, obtained from the stomach of a cod, still 

 more closely resembled the outline of the adult, though the pigment had been removed 

 by the gastric juice. The opercular armature of this example was well developed, 

 presenting three large spines posteriorly (one passing backward and two upward), while 

 one large and several minor spines occurred in front. We have found that the adults 

 spawn in August, it may be somewhat earlier or somewhat later, and it is plain that 

 all these young specimens cannot belong to the same period — cannot be, that is to say, 

 merely a month or two old. Such a supposition would be inconsistent with what has 

 been observed in the young from other pelagic eggs. On the other hand, if these are the 

 young from ova spawned the previous August or thereabout, then their growth is some- 

 what slow, but probably some examples spawn much earlier than others. 



Liparis montagui, Donov. — Shortly after hatching, which is easily accomplished even 

 under unfavourable circumstances, the larvae (PI. XIII. fig. 1) move both tail and pectoral 

 fins actively. The cuticle presents a finely reticulate appearance on the marginal fin, which 

 everywhere has embryonic fin-rays, and a series of globular glands occur over this and the 

 sides of the body. At a somewhat older stage (PL XVI. fig. 7) the yolk-sac is studded 

 with stellate black pigment-corpuscles and touches of chrome-yellow, and on each pectoral 

 is a large spot of yellow with black chromatophores, and then a narrow yellowish curved 

 band with similar black pigment. A few chromatophores with remarkably elongate 



