of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 
289 
Little was thuja known of the breeding of the torsk or task {Br06niiU8 
bro&me, (). F. M.), though from its close relationship with the ling and 
ruckling it was supposed to have an egg with an oil-globule. Various 
attempts had been made by the Hoard and others to secure ripe examples 
of the fish, but hitherto without success. The energetic efforts of Dr 
Fulton, however, have at last procured specimens of the ovarian eggs, moro 
or less ripe. They were obtained by Mr Mackie, Assistant Fishery Otficer, 
Peterhead, from a boat fishing on the Bergen Hank, about GO miles from tho 
Fair Isle, and 150 miles E.N.E. from Peterhead, on the 27th April 1892. 
The three series of eggs were removed from fishes which had been thieo 
days in the boat, so that their condition was somewhat unsatisfactory. 
They were not fertilised. Another well-preserved series sent by this 
energetic officer contained some very large ripe eggs, fully 1*4097 mm. in 
diameter. 
As usual under such circumstances, a number of unripe ovarian 
ova were mingled with others more or less ripe, the diameter 
of the latter in a fluid consisting of one-half saturated solution 
of picric acid and half spirit, ranging from 1*2573 mm. to 1*3335 
mm., the latter being approximately the average of ripe eggs after 
preservation, so that in all probability they are about the size of those of tho 
gurnard, and, like the latter, possess a large oil-globule, as in the ling and 
rockling. If the size of these preserved ova be compared with those given 
by Dr Fulton in tha fresh condition, it will be found to correspond very 
much with what takes place after preservation in other forms. In all 
probability the fertilised free floating eggs of this species will not be less 
than from 1*4 to 1*5 mm., or perhaps a little more. As in the case 
mentioned by Dr Fulton, the majority of the smaller unripe ova ranged 
between *7 mm. and *9 mm. The condition, however, does not materially 
differ from that of allied lishes, such as the cod and haddock. The zona 
is smooth and glistening. 
A large consignment of fairly ripe ova was forwarded from Shetland by 
Mr Duthiethe Fishery officer, viz., two preparations procured on the 28th 
April, and a third, more numerous than the preceding, on the 3d May 1892. 
The former was obtained twenty miles off Lerwick, and the latter forty 
miles off the same port. Their diameter on the whole was somewhat less, 
but such was probably due to the preservative fluid. A large number of 
ripe ova had evidently been present in these fishes. 
The foregoing had been sent to press when, on the 25th May, a large 
series of living eggs of this species was forwarded by Mr Duthie, Assist- 
ant Fishery Officer at Lerwick, whose perseverance under many difficulties 
and whose final success deserve much commendation. Mr Duthie had 
less difficulty on several occasions in procuring ripe females, which, as Dr 
Fulton and others have shown, possess large ovaries ; it was the condition 
of the males which puzzled him. The spermaries of the males (several 
examples of which were forwarded) are small, reaching in the preparations 
only from 2 to 3 inches in a male of good size, and having the form of a 
frilled cord or riband. They thus differ materially from the condition in 
the cod. 9 
The ova were almost dry on their arrival, many adhering to the cheese- 
cloth, which covered the jars, and their hardihood was perhaps partly due 
to the fact, so often seen in other forms, that they had reached a certain 
stage of development (PI. XV. fig. 8). The torsk were caught about 20 
miles off Lerwick on the 21st May, and Mr Duthie fertilised them the 
same evening ; they were thus in their fourth day. They had an average 
diameter (and they were nearly uniform in size throughout) of 1*3335 mm., 
so that the preserved examples from Peterhead alluded to above, and the 
T 
