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Part III. — Tenth Anvvj.il Report 
1 fishes that some resemble those removed from the stomach of a pre- 
' datory fish.' Star-fishes are extremely abundant near the Carr rocks, 
and lines left from Saturday till Monday presented a considerable number 
of injured fishes. The large haddocks (about 5 lbs.) were unsightly and 
the skin ' sodden,' and in a few rupture of the cornea had occurred, 
though of course the latter injury might have been caused by another 
species, for instance the great whelk (Buccinum). If such fishes had been 
submitted for examination without remark, various interpretations might 
have been advanced, some of them perhaps exceedingly wide of the 
mark. 
15. List op Some of the Pelagic Ova, Larvae, and Young Fishes 
obtained by the ' garland ' in 1891 and 1892, with remarks.* 
The collections of pelagic eggs and larval fishes made by Mr Scott, 
F.L.S., in the ' Garland,' greatly exceed those of former years ; indeed, 
the number has, at least, been doubled, a proof of the conscientious care 
and continued activity devoted to this department. The labour involved 
in going over these collections is serious, and the question naturally arises 
as to the value of the observations resulting therefrom. In the first 
place, much depends on the manner of preparing the eggs, for those with 
ruptured yolk and dissolved oil-globules, in many cases, lead only to con- 
fusiou, while the variations in contraction, caused by the alterations in 
the strength or composition of the preservative fluid, still further compli- 
cate the subject. Further, an improper mode of killing the ova, even 
when the preservative fluid is satisfactory, results in irremediable opacity. 
Even years of experience in dealing with such specimens — both living 
and preserved — cannot, in all cases, enable the observer, after the expendi- 
ture of much time, to feel satisfaction with bis labours* 
Irrespective of the differences caused by the varied action of the pre- 
servative fluids in the same species of pelagic egg, those ambiguities due 
to the close approach in size of forms, perhaps widely divergent, have to 
be encountered. Thus, badly preserved eggs of the flounder and dab, of 
the whiting, poor-cod and sprat, of the codj lemon dab and bib, of the 
ling and turbot, and of the gurnard, brill, and megrim entail considerable 
trouble in discrimination^ and often with unsatisfactory results. Nor is it 
necessary to refer to such possible accidents as the retention in the tow-nets 
(it may be for many hours in the open air) of part of the eggs of a pre- 
vious collection, and their subsequent admixture with a fresh series. 
The presence or absence of an oil-globule is a ready means of distin- 
guishing certain forms, but the addition of a fluid, containing too large a 
proportion of spirit, renders such indistinct or invisible. In the same 
way the vesicular yolk of the sprat is rendered opaque, and even the 
characteristically thin capsule and the size cannot always be depended on. 
The structure of the capsule (zona radlata) itself, it is true, renders 
the identification of some pelagic eggs comparatively easy. Thus 
the eggs of the dragonet and the unknown egg (2 mm. in diameter), 
found by Wenckebach in the Bay of Naples, are at once recognised by 
their reticulated capsule, and the present Report will show that the cap- 
sule of the eggs of the torsk may also be easily diagnosed. 
Though the number of the pelagic eggs is considerable at various sta- 
tions, it may, nevertheless, be asked what are all the ova thus collected 
in tow-nets to the vast multitudes in the inshore or offshore waters and 
in the open ocean, or to the product of a single female of one of the larger 
food-fishes 1 There cannot be a doubt that the pelagic nature of such eggs 
* I am indebted to Mr W. E. Collinge, a student of this University, for 
patiently separating and calculating the ova from most of the Stations. 
