of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



245 



APPENDIX F. — No. V. 



NOTE ON THE OVA FRY AND NEST OF THE B ALLAN 

 WRASSE (LABBUS MACULATUS). By J. Duncan 

 Matthews, F.R.S.E. 



With Plate XL 



On 21st June, Mr Rosie ; Fishery officer at Broadford, Skye, sent up 

 two fish nests procured about five miles from Broadford. Owing to delay 

 in transit and other causes, these were too much injured for observation of 

 any kind, but the following description is taken from the Fishery 

 officer's report : — The nests were found closely wedged into a crevice of 

 rock, the mouth of which faced the shore, and was about 12 inches high. 

 The nests filled the height of the crevice at the back, and in (longitudinal) 

 shape formed fully aquarter of a circle on their outer edge. The front wall 

 of the nest at its extremest projection measured about 4 inches in thick- 

 ness, but as it curved round to the rock on each side it tapered away to 

 nearly a point. It was thus crescentic in outline, and wedge-shaped from 

 the front inwards, owing to the narrowing of the crevice. Across the 

 base of the nest from point to point of the crescent, i.e., at the inner 

 angle of the crevice, it measured 15 inches, and its projection in the centre 

 to the inside of the crescentic wall was 6J inches. 



Mr Rosie adds that he has good authority for the statement that 

 before spawning the fish have been seen passing through similar nests, and 

 that when the tide w T as rising they partly leapt out of the water to reach 

 the nests. These observations he has been as yet unable to confirm, but 

 while stating that he did not observe such openings in these nests, it has 

 to be noted that Mr Allan, who subsequently sent up two other nests from 

 the same locality, says that in them there was a hole at least at one end 

 of the nest. 



The first nests having been spoiled, the two just referred to were sent 

 in damp seaweed to the Zoological Laboratory of the University of 

 Edinburgh on July 16th. Although their shape was much destroyed in 

 transit, they arrived otherwise in fairly fresh condition. The nests were 

 composed of numbers of tufts of coralline (Gorallina officinalis) and 

 seaweed (Polysiplwnia fastigiata), fixed together principally at their 

 bases by what seemed like threads of semi-solid mucus. 



These two nests arrived late on Saturday the 17th July, and in conse- 

 quence were left unnoticed until the forenoon of Monday the 19th. They 

 had thus been for at least 72 hours in a box among damp seaweed when 

 first examined. The ova were found scattered over the whole nest, and 

 adhering to its material, but not very firmly, some washing off when (as 

 was done later) pieces of the nests were put in water. It is probable, 

 however, that they are more firmly adherent in the natural condition, 

 and these may have loosened from their partially drying. The eggs freed 

 from the weed sank in the water. 



The eggs varied somewhat in size, but the extremes were -^th to 

 ^th of an inch in diameter. The embryos were alive and well ad- 

 vanced in development, being in fact almost ready to hatch out. 



Some of the weed with adhering ova was put in a jar of salt water, but 

 the embryos died during the night, probably from sufficient precautions 

 not having been taken to keep this small quantity of water cool. 



The remainder of the nests, a mass about 10 inches diameter by 4 inches 

 thick, was put in a large glass dish covered closely on the top, but with no 

 water whatever added ; the nests were still, however, pretty damp. Next 

 day, 72 hours after their arrival, the embryos on the damp weed were 

 still alive, and pieces of the nests were put in salt water ; next morning 



