71 
Though no ripe eggs were procured from fish, many gggs 
were procured by townetting in the river, indicating that some 
kinds of fish do breed in the river. The following is a short 
account of townettings, with date and contents of nets : 
28th June, 1915.—Small crustacea and crustacean larvae, 
a few Sagitta, Beroe and Noctiluca. No fish eggs. 
roth August, 1915.—Many Saggita, a few small crustacea 
and much vegetable debris. No eggs. 
27th August, 1915.—Sagitta, crustacean larvae, no eggs. 
29th September, 1915.—Crustacean larvae and a few annelid 
larvae ; no eggs. | 
roth October, 1915.—Much vegetable matter, small uni- 
valves, small crustacea and foraminifera, two fish eggs, 
.89 mm. in diameter with an oil globule .21 mm. in 
diameter, and therefore probably those of the Kabel- 
jaauw (Scraena aquila). 
26th October, 1915.—A little vegetable matter, one egg .66 
mm. in diameter, with about 13 oil globules each .o4 
mm. in diameter with advanced embryo, and another 
egg .89 mm. in diameter with an oil globule .18 mm. in 
diameter (White Stumpnose, Chrysophrys  globiceps). 
13th November, 1915.—Vegetable matter, a few crustacea, 
no eggs. 
8th-14th January, 1916.—Many copepods and many fish 
eggs, about 1,000 in all. ‘These eggs were all of the same 
kind, .59 mm. in diameter and with about a dozen oil 
~ globules from .17 mm. to .08 mm. in diameter and a 
perivittaline space of about .o&8 mm. In some the oil 
globules wefe fewer in number, one having two, one 
.29 mm. and another .o8 mm. in diameter. 
16th-22nd January, 1916.—Many hundreds of such eggs. 
18th March, 1916.—No eggs. 
28th June, 1916.—Small crustacea and crustacean larvae, 
Sagitta, Beroe, foraminifera and a few Noctiluca. No 
fish eggs. 
From these results of the experimental nettings we are able. 
to answer most of the questions which have been mentioned 
above. 
(1) Certain fish do spawn or breed in the river. The Barbel, 
for instance, was caught in numbers with its eggs and young, 
and these are destroyed in netting. No other fish actually in 
a spawning condition were found, though Steenbras, Kabel- 
jaauw and some others had the ovaries well developed. The 
eggs of the Kabeljauw and White Stumpnose were procured 
by fine muslin nets in abundance at certain times. That 
these fish do not, however, resort to the river specially for 
spawing purposes is shown by the fact that their eggs are found 
just as abundantly in the open sea. Thus large numbers of 
spawing Barbel are sometimes procured by fishing boats on 
[C.P. 3—1918] 
