38 
Mr. E. W. L. Holt on the Ova of Gobius. 
shaped, the embryonic dorsal fin commences opposite the 
pectoral girdle. Embryonic fin-rays occur in the slightly 
spathulate embryonic caudal fin. There is a considerable 
preanal fin. The notochord is unicolumnar, and the hyoidean 
and mandibular apparatus well developed. The eye is 
greenish yellow. Black stellate chromatophores occur below 
the anterior end of the notochord, extending back as far as 
the air-bladder. Yellow pigment occurs amongst them. 
The air-bladder is greenish, with black dendritic pigment 
scattered over it. Above the anus and halfway between that 
point and the air-bladder occur two large masses of gamboge- 
yellow pigment (reddish brown by transmitted light), over 
each of which extends a large black dendritic chromatophore. 
Small black chromatophores extend along the ventral edge of 
the anterior two thirds of the abdomen and along the ventral 
edge of the postanal region to a point a little short of the 
caudal extremity. Halfway between the anus and the caudal 
extremity is another large yellow patch, overlaid by den- 
dritic black pigment on the ventral region, and a similar but 
smaller dorsal patch lies just above it. No pigment occurs 
on the embryonic fins. The yolk is considerably reduced. 
It is darkish and appears to consist almost entirely of small 
oil-globules. 
It is to be regretted that the information given by British 
authors as to the breeding of the Gobies is rather vague. 
Day (‘ British Fishes*) gives June as the breeding time of 
O . niger and G. minutus , and May or June as that of G. 
paganellus . He also mentions, on the authority of a corre- 
spondent, that G. Ruthensparri attaches its eggs to the inside 
of an empty valve of Mya arenaria , but does not describe the 
egg or the method of attachment. 
From the same authority it appears that the late Mr. Roberts, 
of the Scarborough Museum, had frequently bred this species 
in confinement. 
Parnell / Fishes of the Forth ’) mentions that G. niger and 
G. gracilis ( Parnelli ) spawn in J une. 
Couch (* British Fishes/ ii. p. 154) found a black Goby with 
enlarged loe in February, and very young ones which appeared 
to belong to the same species in the autumn. Beyond this I 
can find no information. 
Note . — Since making the foregoing remarks two females of 
Gobius minutus were brought to the Laboratory from the 
estuary of the Eden *, the contents of whose ovaries leave no 
doubt but that this is the parent species. 
* May 27, 1890. 
