1208 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
but hitherto they have proved all but fruitless. It has 
been attempted, for instances, with dredges of a special 
construction to collect in the clayey bottoms where the 
Glutinous Hag has its home deposited ova and fry in 
course of development. Further experiments have been 
made by keeping a number of Hags in aquaria, or by 
sinking them in corves to the depths where they live 
in a state of nature and examining at intervals the 
contents of the corves; but all to no purpose. Yet it 
is quite possible that the question may be solved by 
still more systematical and comprehensive investigations, 
attention being paid to the biotic conditions of the Glu- 
tinous Hag (the temperature of the water, the pressure, 
etc.). Or perhaps, a circumstance of which the history 
of science affords more than one example, a happy ac- 
cident may throw light upon the mystery. In any case 
each new contribution to this result, each new sugges- 
tion is of value. It is not yet known with certainty 
whether the eggs are impregnated after or before their 
deposition. W. Muller and Cunningham have described 
a micropyle in the ripe eggs. An impregnation of the 
ova after their exclusion from the parent-fish is ac- 
cordingly not impossible. Nor is it known how and 
where the eggs are laid, whether this is done on the 
clayey bottom, as is most probable, or perhaps among 
algae on a rocky ground. It has been stated that the 
Glutinous Hag constructs with its slime a kind of 
nest in the clay for the reception of its ova; but 
nothing positive is known on this head. It is not 
known whether the embryos live in the clay or free 
in the sea- water. Their appearance is utterly un- 
known. Perhaps they are larval forms of quite a pe- 
culiar type, as the Ammoccetes form of Petromyzon. 
The smallest recorded specimens of the Glutinous 
Hag, taken alone now and then in pots baited with 
dead fish, measure no less than 9 cm., and they 
already conform in structure to the developed animal. 
It consequently remains for the investigator to secure 
them at earlier stages and, above all, to find new-laid, 
impregnated eggs, as well as to watch the earliest 
development of the embryos. This question acquires 
greater and greater biological importance year by year, 
and it is to be hoped that the solution thereof will 
not baftie research too long. 
THE GLUTINOUS HAG OR MYXINE (sw. piralen or pilalen). 
MYXINE GLUT1NOSA, Linn. 
Plate LIII, fig. 5. 
Sup rating ual teeth larger in the anterior outer than in the posterior inner row , and numbering in the former 7 
or 8, in the latter 8 — 10, the two foremost being besides confluent at the base. 
Syn. Pihral 1. Ingeris Pi It, Kalm, Peso N. Amer ., tom. I, p. 
100. Hviid-Aal , Strom, Sondm. Beskr., pt. I, p. 287. 
Steensuer, Olav., Skag. Beskr., p. 156, tab. 3, figg. 3 et 4. 
Myxina glutinosa , Lin., Mus. Ad. Frid ., tom. I, p. 91 (inter 
Vermes), tab. VIII, fig. 4; Syst. Nat., ed. X, tom. I, p. 
650 ( Myxine ); Gunnerus {Sleep- Marken), Trondhj. Selsk. 
Skr., vol. II (1763), p. 250, tab. Ill; Penn. {Glutinous Hag), 
Brit. Zool., vol. IV (ed. 1777), p. 33, tab. XX, No. 15; 
A. J. Retz., Vet. Akad. Handl. 1790, p. 110, tab. IV (sim. 
cum Petromyzonibus inter Vermes et Pisces interm.); Fare., 
Fna Groenl., p. 344 (inter Vermes ); A. J. Retz., Fna Suec. 
Lin., p. 301 (inter Pisces)', A. Retz., Vet. Akad. Handl. 
1822, p. 233, tab. Ill; 1824, p. 408, tab. VI; Nilss., Prodr. 
Ichthyol. Scand., p. 123; J. MWll., Vergl. Anat. Myxin., Abh. 
Akad. Wiss. Berk, Pliys. Cl., 1834. 1837, 1838; Sund., 
v. Wr., Skand. Fisk., ed. 1, p. 121, tab. 28; Kr., Damn. 
Fisk., vol. Ill, p. 1068; Nilss., Skand. Fna, Fisk., p. 750; 
Strp, Overs. D. Vid. Sels. Fork. 1864, p. 233; Couch {Borer), 
Fish. Brit. Isl., vol. IV, p. 408, tab. CCXLVIII, fig. 3; 
Gthr, Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. VIII, p. 510; Putn., Proc. 
Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 1873, p. 135; Coll., Forh. Vid. Sels. 
Clirnia 1874, Tillasgsh., p. 220; Malm, Gbgs, Boh. Fna, 
p. 637 ; Winth., Naturli. Tidskr. Kbhvn, ser. 3, vol. XII, p. 
62; Mela, Vert. Fenn ., p. 372, tab. X; Storm, Vid. Sels. 
Skrift. Trondhj. 1883, p. 48; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel., 
vol. II, p. 364, tab. CLXXIX, fig. 3; Cunningh., 1. supr. c.; 
Nansen, 1. supr. c. ; G. Retz., Biol. For. Forh. Sthlm, Bd 
I, p. 22, tab. Ill; Bd II, p. 80, tab. Ill; Lillj., Sv., Norg. 
Fisk., vol. Ill, p. 730. 
Gastrobranchus coecus, Bl., Ausl. Fisch., pt. IX, p. 67, tab. 
CCCCXIII. 
My, vine limosa, Gir., Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. 1858, p. 223. 
The Flag that lives on the west coast of Swe- 
den and in Norwegian waters has an average length 
of 25 — 30 cm. Sometimes, however, individuals mea- 
suring 45 cm. or a little more are met with. 
The body is of almost uniform thickness, for the 
most part terete, Eel-like; behind the middle it shows 
some lateral compression, and this is increased towards 
the tail, which is thin, flattened, and somewhat dia- 
