332 
Part III. — Ninth Annual Report 
to Bloch, in May, and mention that Malm found a female with enlarged 
ova in June. 
At St Andrews in May and June many examples of Ammodytes 
tobianus, not always the largest, have the ovaries well developed, but not 
a single ripe specimen has hitherto been procured either by digging or 
other method of capture. Ripe males, however, have often been obtained, 
and, as in other groups, some of these have been comparatively small. 
The spawning forms, therefore, would not appear to remain in the sand 
near low water, though, on the other hand, it is not yet known that they 
assume a more or less pelagic existence at this period. 
By the aid of the Fishery Board this spring additional facilities have 
been afforded for the examination of both species, chiefly from the seine- 
nets at Elie. Of about a dozen examples of A. lanceokUus the longest 
specimen was a male (1 ft. f in.), while the longest female was llf in. 
The ovaries and testes were well developed, and some were ripe. The 
organs are so closely applied as to appear connate, the respective sides, 
however, being separated by a deep furrow. The larger developing (not 
ripe) eggs in each case were all about the same stage of advancement, 
though small ova occur here and there. The capsule (zona) is tough, 
and contains, besides the nucleus (PI. XIII. fig. 6), the minutely granular 
yolk, which has a series of small, deep, greenish-yellow oil-globules scat- 
tered through it. An advanced specimen was kindly forwarded by Dr 
Fulton from Elie on the 20th May, and others were sent by the chief 
officer of the coastguard subsequently. In these the ripe eggs formed a 
continuous line on each side ventrally from the anterior to the posterior 
end of the ovary. Moreover, in a few a group of ripe eggs lay near the 
reproductive aperture, and one or two occasionally escaped externally. 
When such eggs as appeared to be ripe were removed and placed in a 
vessel of sea-water they adhered to the bottom, so that the vessel could 
be swung about vathout detaching them. They are not, however, very 
firmly fixed, since they can be detached with the point of a pipette. 
They adhere in the same manner to forceps or a slide. In water they do 
not often adhi re to each other, but when placed in contact they stick, though 
not strongly. The average size of the larger ova was about '7620 mm., the 
oil-globule being about '1950 mm. Each (PI. XIII. fig. 7) had a thick 
capsule, which may be divided into an external and an internal lamina. The 
outer surface is minutely areolated or papillose all over, the papillae being 
well seen as a distinct border at a fold of the zona (PI. XIII. fig. 14). In 
some parts the minutely complex folds resemble those of a microscopic 
Meandrina. The nature of this outer layer is doubtful. It can be easily 
abraded from prominent folds of the egg, leaving the smooth and glistening 
zona beneath. Within is the finely perforate and hyaline inner layer, 
which by special focussing presents the appearance of finely crossed lines 
or rows of dots. The micropyle is very distinctly marked as a deep pit sur- 
rounded by a radiate series of furrows. Moreover, instead of the numerous 
scattered greenish-yellow oil-globules, all had now (i.e., in the ripe egg) 
coalesced into a single conspicuous one of the same characteristic hue. 
Many eggs had reached maturity, and it may now be stated that the larger 
sand-eel deposits an ovum with a large greenish-yellow oil-globule probably 
in June and July, and it is interesting that this is corroborated by the 
fishermen at Elie, who state that they are fully ripe ('running') in the 
middle of J une. None of the young sand-eels captured at St Andrews 
show the deep greenish-yellow tint in the oil-globule, so that, unless con- 
siderable change occurs, in all probability they belong chiefly to A. tobianus. 
At the same period the most advanced examples of the lesser sand-eel 
(A. tobianus) present considerably smaller ova (PI. XIII. fig. 8) than the 
