of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 
IS 
most sea-fish fall into one or other of the following classes : — 
(1) Those whose ova are relatively very numerous and are pelagic, 
floating isolated at or near the surface of the sea. This group 
includes all flat-fishes, and all the marine food-fishes except the 
herring. (2) Those in which the ova are pelagic, but are connected 
by a continuous membrane and not isolated. The only fish on our 
coasts whose spawn is known to act in this way is the angler or 
monk. (3) Those whose ova are demersal, or lie on the bottom, 
and are not numerous. This group comprises {a) fish which deposit 
all their ova suddenly in the cjurse of a few hours or days, as the 
salmon, lump-sucker, herring, smelt, &c., (h) fish which produce 
successive crops of e^igs throughout the season, as the catfish, stickle- 
backs, and most small shore forms. The weight of ova produced 
in one season relative to the weight of the fish varies greatly, and 
Dr Fulton shows how a consideration of this circumstance explains 
several obscure facts, such as the very different proportions and sizes 
of the sexes among fish. In fish with isolated pelagic ova, and in 
several with demersal ova the spawning of any individual is pro- 
longed, in some cases probably for months, owing to the necessity 
for a certain large number of ova being produced which the fish 
cannot carry in the ripe condition at once ; and this is associated 
with a sudden expansion of the ova prior to extrusion. Thus, for 
instance, in the plaice, a single female will produce in the course of 
a season a weight of ripe eggs fully a third greater than the whole 
weight of the fish, these eggs being shed over a considerable period. 
The Invertebrate Fauna of Inland Waters. — The second 
Eeport on this investigation by Mr Thomas Scott, F.L.S. is given 
in the present volume. It deals with the invertebrate fauna of 
sixteen fresh-water lochs in various parts of Scotland — namely, in 
Kinross-shire, Fifeshire, Aberdeenshire, Eoss-shire, Inverness-shire, 
Argyleshire, Caithness, and Orkney, including the well-known Loch 
Leven. Mr Scott gives lists of the fauna found in these inland 
waters, their distribution, and many interesting facts concerning 
some of them. Since trout and other fresh-water fish live upon 
these organisms, this investigation will in course of time furnish 
valuable information as to why these fish vary so much in abund- 
ance and quality in different lochs, and will also throw light upon 
the obscure question of fish parasites. For instance, Mr Scott 
some time ago found a parasite within a very minute fresh-water 
Crustacean, v/hich he faithfully figured. This drawing came into 
the hands of Dr Blanchard, secretary to the Zoological Society of 
France, and an authority on helminthology ; and he, on examining 
the specimen, found it to be the cystic stage of a tapeworm which 
inhabits the intestines of ducks, but whose previous history was 
unknown until Mr Scott made the discovery. The paper is illus- 
trated by two plates. 
The West Coast Fauna of the 'Garland' Expedition. — During 
the expedition of the ' Garland ' on the West Coast, referred to 
below, collections of the fauna were made by the tow-net, dredge, 
and trawl ; and Mr W. Anderson Smith, who was deputed by the 
Board to accompany the expedition, gives a general account 
of the fauna obtained. The fish-supply was found to be poor 
