1871.] 135 [Putnam. 



cies, as is generally the case with the fishes on the coast of 

 Labrador. They come on the coast in great numbers, the 

 cod accompanying and feeding upon them, but at first there 

 are no females among them. The sexual marks are very 

 prominent. The female resembles the common smelt, but 

 the male is thicker, with a ridge of villous scales on each 

 side, running the entire length of the body. The male is 

 harder and better for bait. About a week after the arrival 

 of the males, females begin to appear among them, but only 

 in the proportion of about one to ten. The males disappear 

 after milting, and in about a week the females follow, their 

 stay on the coast continuing about three weeks. Some 

 stragglers only remain, in such an emaciated condition that 

 the cod will not take them. 



He referred also to the disproportion in weight and num- 

 ber, in the different sexes of the Halibut. Nine-tenths are 

 females, the largest of these weighing about one hundred and 

 fifty pounds, while the largest males reach about sixty only. 



Mr. F. W. Putnam mentioned a remarkable case occur- 

 ring in a collection of fishes recently received by him, from 

 the east coast of Africa. An eel had swallowed a spiny 

 Choetodon, of three times its own normal diameter, so that 

 the fish appeared as a great lump distending the abdomen 

 of the eel. 



March 15, 1871. 

 The President in the chair. Thirty-nine persons present. 



Mr. Edward S. Morse referred to the communication of Mr. 

 Wm. H. Dall, "On the Relations of the Brachiopoda," read 

 at the preceding meeting. 



