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Part III. — Twenty-first Annual Report 



time, but in my notes it is described as richly speckled and mottled, and 

 my impression is that the mottling was mostly brown and green. In the 

 preserved condition (formaline) it is darkish grey above, with a few dozen 

 blackish, somewhat ocellated, spots, scattered about, and numerous less 

 dark brownish patches with a digitate border like the marginal fringes. 

 The terminal portion of all the fins is black, most marked in the mem- 

 brane between the rays, and on the dorsal and terminal third of the lower 

 surface of the pectorals. It is soft and gelatinous and the mucoid tissue 

 abounds, especially on the under surface of the head. The fish weighed 

 IJ ounces. 



The following measurements are from the preserved specimen. 

 Extreme length, 124 mm. ; length behind anus, 57 mm. ; and from anus 

 to root of caudal, 32 mm. Greatest breadth of head, 48 mm. ; greatest 

 height, 20 mm. ; diameter of eye, 6 mm.; distance between eyes, 12 mm. ; 

 distance from tip of snout to base of third dorsal ray, 28 mm. ; gape with 

 mouth closed, 30 mm. ; projection of lower jaw beyond snout, 7 mm. ; 

 width behind pectorals, 20 mm. Length of free portion of first dorsal 

 ray, 6 mm. ; of second, 17 mm ; of third, 14 mm. Length of pectoral, 

 30 mm. ; breadth expanded, 28 mm. ; length of ventrals, 23 mm. ; 

 breadth, 9 mm. 



The first dorsal spine is destitute of lateral appendages or fringes, but 

 bears on the top a dark grey membranous horizontal straight strip, 5 mm. 

 long, and nearly 2 mm. in vertical breadth, poised in the middle on the 

 apex. It thus resembles a T. The strip is bluntly pointed at each end, 

 and provided below with a number of lighter-coloured, hair-like filaments 

 about 2 mm. long. The spine arises about 5 mm. from the snout, and in 

 examining it in water I was struck with the resemblance the terminal 

 portion presented to a small crustacean, as an amphipod, the pendulous 

 filaments representing the legs. If the angler sways the spine about in 

 the water, one can understand how small fishes may be deceived and snap 

 at it. 



The second and third spines are feathered laterally with membranous 

 fragments, the third most densely, and they are here darker ; and similar 

 appendages exist on the free portions of the other three spines, the free 

 portion of the fourth spine measuring 10 mm. 



In Aberdeen Bay, among 131 anglers measured, six were under 200 

 mm., one was 159 (65 inches), and the others from 187 to 198 mm. 

 Three, including the smallest, were taken in November, two in from 

 seven to twenty fathoms, and the smallest in fifteen-and-a-half fathoms, 

 one in May and two in July. At the Dog Hole ofi" Aberdeen, where the 

 water is deep, one of eighteen measured 170 mm. it was caught on 

 13th May. 



The proportion of the young anglers on the deep-water grounds 

 appears to be higher than on the inshore trawling grounds. Of fifty in 

 May, in sixty-five fathoms, ten were under 200 mm., ranging from 155 

 to 197, the average length being 182-1 mm., or 7^^ inches. In 

 September, seven of twenty-two were under 200 mm., the size ranging 

 from 165 to 191 mm., and the average length being 181*3 mm., or 7^ 

 inches. Other two under 200 mm. were taken in the Forth in July 

 measuring 165 and 196 mm. respectively. The higher proportion in the 

 deep water may indicate the comparative absence of shelter there, and it 

 shows in all probability that spawning and the developmental changes 

 may take place far from land. 



The larger anglers are as a rule got in deeper water than those which 

 are of moderate size, as, for example, in thirty and fifty fathoms in the 

 Moray Firth. They sometimes, however, come into quite shallow water. 

 An interesting case of the kind occurred in June in the Dornoch Firth. 



