274 
Part III.-~Tenth Annual Report 
Of non-pelagic or demersal eggs those for the first time accurately 
described and figured are : — short-spined Cottus, long-spined Cottus, 
armed bull-head, lump-sucker, Montagu's sucker, wolf-fish ; shanny 
(ovarian eggs), gunnel, sand-eel, and sand-launce. Other forms specially 
dealt with in this group are goby, sea-bream, bimaculated sucker, 
viviparous blenny, fifteen-spined stickleback, three-spined stickleback, 
salmon, herring, and myxine, while the ovarian eggs of many others, such 
as the eel, conger, YarreH's blenny, &c, have also been under observation. 
2. Remakks on Young Pleuronectids. 
In the Researches* it was mentioned that a small egg (F), with a 
single oil-globule, and from 034 to "036 inch long, was captured by the 
trawl-like tow-net, at the bottom, in the early part of May,f and for some 
time thereafter. It was figured in PI. V. fig. 4, the embryo being well 
advanced. The character of the pigment and the reticulated appearance of 
the embryo were distinctive. The larval form, after extrusion, was also 
figured (PI. XVII. fig. 1) ; it measured a tenth of an inch, and had yellowish 
pigment along the marginal fin dorsally and ventrally, with blackish 
chromatophores. The general surface of the body, the head and yolk-sac, are 
dotted with yellowish pigment, and a few black chromatophores are present 
in the yolk and under the oil-globule. No pigment appears in the eyes. 
The oil-globule is situated inferiorly, distinctly behind the middle of the 
yolk-sac, while a considerable interval exists between it and the posterior 
border of the latter. Moreover, the entire surface of the larval fish is 
covered with a somewhat coarse reticulation of cells with nuclei, which do 
not occur at the centre of the cells, but at their margins. On the third 
day the distribution of the pigment was more general, but the mouth had 
not yet opened. 
The larval fish was kept till the yolk and oil -globule had disappeared. 
The chief change was the more conspicuous nature of the yellowish chro- 
matophores along the margin of the dorsal fin. The head also assumed a 
deeper yellow hue from the pigment over the brain, and the body is 
covered with many minute yellow chromatophores mingled with black. 
The pectorals are tipped with yellow, and have the streaked mesoblastic 
basal region. The eyes are greenish-silvery. The mouth is now widely 
open. It was then remarked that at this stage it resembled a Pleuronectid. 
The same egg was alluded to last year J as occurring in May and June, 
and by no means uncommon in the bottom tow-nets. It was observed 
that the oil-globule is comparatively small (about "1524 mm., or a little 
more), somewhat like that of the topknot,§ that the vent occurs a short 
distance behind the yolk-sac, and that the egg and larva probably pertain 
to a fish by no means infrequent in the neighbourhood. The occurrence 
of many examples last summer, after the publication of the foregoing 
remarks, both at surface and bottom, and a more careful consideration of 
its relationships, enabled us to come to the conclusion that it closely 
approached the egg of the turbot, though differing in certain details. 
Moreover, Dr Fulton most courteously forwarded at various times 
portions of the ovaries of the turbot, so that eggs more or less ripe 
could be contrasted with the foregoing ; and further, many fine specimens 
of turbot from Iceland and other northern parts were examined somewhat 
later on the Pontoon at Grimsby. The ovarian egg of the turbot, 
approaching maturity (PI. XIV. fig. 1), was thus obtained, the centre of the 
* Trans. Boy. 8oc. Eclin., vol. xxxiii. part 3, Feb. 1890. 
+ This year, for instance, the first egg with embryo fnlly half round the yolk was 
procured in the bottom net of the ' Garland ' in St Andrews Bay on 30th April. 
X Ninth Ann. Report, p. 321, pi. xlii. figs. 4 and 5, 1891. 
§ Op. cU. t vol. xxxiii., p. 852, PI. i. fig. 6. The larger size of this egg alone prevented] 
our associating it with the specimens referred to (F). It may have been softened. 
