
No. 465.] STUDIES OF MYXINOIDS. 657 
mm. The fourth had lost the fore part of its head so that I 
could not tell its exact length. I was told by the fisherman that 
eggs in which blood vessels could be seen were not very numer- 
ous before September. Late in September I received several 
very mature embryos and newly hatched young, and also some 
eggs in which the embryo was not more than eight millimeters, 
and was told by the fisherman that if I wished some young 
about four or five inches long to send for them at Christmas 
time as they were most easily obtained then. 
The eggs are difficult to find. .They are almost never taken 
in deep-water dredging, even in beds where the fish are very 
numerous. The United States Fish Commission steamer Alba- 
tross was out for three months in the spring of 1904, exploring 
the bottom of the Bay of Monterey, and in all that time only 
one egg was brought up by the dredge. On the other hand, 
Mr. Frederick Woodworth told me that in dredging for mol- 
luscs on a mud bottom at a depth of from twenty to twenty- 
five fathoms, he had several times brought up hagfish eggs. He 
says also in answer to a letter of inquiry on the subject: “I 
find from the fishermen that they have taken strings of eggs in 
from fifteen to eighteen fathoms with their mesh nets in muddy 
bottoms ; with trawls they have taken them in as deep water as 
thirty-five fathoms, always on muddy bottoms." The one set of 
eggs that was laid in my aquarium was laid on the sand bottom, 
though there were the rock heap and the bare wood for the fish 
to choose between. Under these circumstances it is certainly 
probable that the hagfish do not breed in their usual habitat, but 
seek shallower water and a soft bottom to do so. The explana- 
tion for this will be found in the food habits of the young. 
In gathering the eggs, aside from dredging, advantage is taken 
of the fact that they are eaten by the males. The fishermen 
set traps or lines for the fish, and when they are aver, hold 
them firmly by the head with one hand and “ strip” the body 
with the other, thus forcing out any eggs OF newly hatched 
young, for these are also eaten. Under these circumstances, 
only a very small proportion of the eggs obtained are m 
histological study, as most of them have been more or less 
digested. Even if they are sufficiently uninjured to use for his- 
