112 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



anal fin and the adjacent ventral portion of the body. It 

 is, of course, impossible to say how this injury occurred, 

 but the shape of the notch suggests a bite by some 

 carnivorous fish. The injury had probably occurred 

 when the fish was much younger. Healing has been per- 

 fect, for there is no obvious cicatrix, and the pigmenta- 

 tion of the ocular side extends round the ventral margin 

 on to the blind side. That this perfect healing has 

 occurred is remarkable, for this part of the body is fairly 

 well supplied with blood-vessels, and bleeding must have 

 been copious. Dr. Fulton describes a somewhat similar 

 case.* 



The fish is a female, of 15^ inches in extreme length. 

 It ought to be mature, but the ovaries are small and thin, 

 that of the blind side being only If inches long. Pro- 

 bably the injury had inhibited the maturation of these 

 organs. It is interesting that the white haloes round the 

 ocelli are not clearly evident in this fish, and this lends 

 support to Petersen's contention! that these white-edged 

 ocelli in the plaice are indicative of the condition of sexual 

 maturity. 



* Rept. Fish. Bd., Scotland, No. 21. 



f Publications de circonstance, No. I. Cons. Perm. Internat. Explor. 

 de la Mer. Copenhague, 1903. 



