FOURTEEN TELEOSTEAN FISHES AT BEAUFORT, N. C. 
389 
A. mitchilli, and that it also completes the process considerably earlier. The eggs 
of A. epsetus were taken as early as April 16; they were abundant throughout May, 
but early in June they diminished in number, although a few were taken throughout 
July. The eggs of A. mitchilli were first taken on April 26, and they occurred in 
the tow throughout the summer and well into September. Small young only about 
12 millimeters long were taken in December, which further indicates that spawning 
extends well into the autumn. 
Both anchovies spawn within the harbor, the estuaries, and sounds, as well 
as along the outer shores of the banks. 
DEVELOPMENT OF EGGS AND YOUNG 
The eggs of A. epsetus were especially numerous at offshore collecting stations, 
and it seems probable that this species spawns principally along the outer shores 
of the banks, although exclusive of 1929, they were common, also within the harbor. 
The eggs and young of A. mitchilli were common wherever towings were made and 
spawning appears to take place generally in all the local waters. 
The eggs, as already indicated, were taken for study with townets. No fish 
ripe enough for stripping were seen, and they will not stand transportation to the 
aquarium. The eggs of A. mitchilli were known already when this study was 
undertaken (Kuntz, 1914, p. 14) and the identification of the eggs of A. epsetus, 
therefore, was easy and certain, for anchovy eggs are quite distinctive, arid the 
identification could readily be made through a simple process of elimination. The 
identification was verified, however, by the examination of eggs secured directly 
from nearly ripe fish. 
Spawning in these species, as in several other local marine forms, appears to 
take place very definitely early at night; that is, from about 6 to 9 o’clock. At 
least, no eggs in the early cell-division stages were taken at any other time, although 
numerous collections were made. Furthermore, eggs taken during the day appeared 
to be in two fairly uniform stages cf development; that is, eggs taken in the tow 
during the morning, for example, and examined about noon, generally were either 
in a state of development that showed the embryonic streak or they contained 
advanced embryos. The eggs with an embryonic streak very probably had been 
spawned on the previous evening, whereas those containing advanced embryos were 
spawned 24 hours earlier. 
Segmentation and the development of the embryo. — Cell division in A. epsetus is 
regular, and it proceeds rapidly. Unsegmented eggs taken in the plankton between 
8 and 9 o’clock in the evening, apparently just laid, passed through the 2 and 4 cell 
stages and reached the 8-cell stage within an hour at a water temperature near 67° F. 
Segmentation proceeded rapidly and within 12 hours a definite embryonic streak 
was formed. Hatching occurred within about 48 hours at a water temperature 
varying from 66° to 70° F. (Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.) 
Soon after fertilization a very evident streaming of protoplasm to the upper 
pole of the egg takes place, forming a pronounced blastodisc. When cleavage takes 
place, very deep fissures are made and the first cells stand out, mountainlike, on the 
upper pole of the egg. As cell division proceeds, the fissures naturally become less 
pronounced and the bell shape of the blastoderm becomes very distinct. Because 
of the transparency of the egg, the development can be seen clearly. 
When the embryonic streak once is formed, the embryo very soon becomes 
differentiated and development progresses rapidiy. (Fig. 7.) Shortly before hatch- 
