39 
Mr. E. W. L. Holt on the Ova o/’Gobius. 
I regret that great pressure of time* prevents me (as with 
the extruded ova) at present from making more than a super- 
ficial examination of them ; hut I hope at a future date to 
treat the subject in a manner more worthy of it. Meanwhile, 
however, in the light of my previous remarks a few notes may 
be of interest. 
The two specimens (the stomachs of which were full of the 
Cypris - larvse of Balanus) measure respectively 2 and 3£ 
inches, and the ovaries, which are by no means ripe, are 
nearly in the same condition in both. The largest ova 
measure from *6 to # 71 millim. in long diameter; they are 
ovoidal, with one end much broader than the other. 
Numerous oil-globules can be made out, distributed in an 
irregular manner amongst the granular yolk-matter. The 
thin zona is visible by careful focusing adhering closely to 
the yolk, and having outside it another layer in which minute 
dots, presumably nuclei, are present — in fresh unstained speci- 
mens under a high power. This layer, the granulosa, is in 
its turn covered by the process of attachment (which is 
exactly similar to that of the extruded ova) , a fact which 
justifies the supposition that the latter was everted at extru- 
sion, as is the outer membrane in Osmerus. 
The micropyle, a minute funnel-shaped depression, can be 
made out in favourable unstained specimens, where it is not 
hidden by the ruptured follicular epithelium. It lies at the 
broad end of the egg, and the process of attachment stretches 
out on all sides. The meshwork of the latter ceases at the 
broadest part of the egg, and the filaments continuous with it 
pass upwards side by side almost to the opposite (narrow) end 
of the egg, but do not actually meet there. 
In fresh specimens treated with picro-carmine the process 
of attachment takes the carmine stain more rapidly than any 
other part, the granulosa taking it slowly, if at all. In smaller 
eggs, i. e . half the size of the foregoing, the process of attach- 
ment is not seen, but minute, deeply staining dots are visible 
at the broad end of the egg, and probably represent its earliest 
appearance. The larger stained eggs show an intimate con- 
nexion between the process and the zona for a short distance 
around the micropyle, being the area which afterwards be- 
comes the pedicle. The apertures are comparatively more 
elongated in this region, with finer interstitial matter (closely 
applied to the zona), which suddenly thickens at the margin 
of the pedicle. I could detect no layer between the zona and 
* [Mr. Holt left within a few hours for the trawling expedition on the 
west coast of Ireland. — W. C. M.] 
