SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 111 
appearance. It is yellow-white in colour. It becomes 
very translucent on clearing in xylol preparatory to 
imbedding and cutting, and this appearance suggested a 
fatty nature. The tissue did indeed contain enough fat 
to produce a deep brown colour when treated with osmic 
acid, but fat was not, however, abundant in it. Fig. 5, 
Pl. V, represents a small part of a section, seen under a 
Zeiss apochromatic 1°5 mm. oil immersion lens, and the 
nature of the growth is obvious. The whole structure is 
composed of bundles of connective tissue running in all 
directions. The tissue is very compact, and there are few 
interspaces between the fibrous bundles. The figure 
represents parts of two adjacent bundles, in one of which 
the fibres are cut longitudinally while they are cut trans- 
versely in the other. The fibres themselves are relatively 
thick, and polygonal, or round in section. There are 
very few nuclei to be seen, and the whole tumour contains 
very few blood vessels. 
Obviously, the structure belongs to the group of hard 
fibromata, and has developed from the serous connective 
tissue of the peritoneal covering of the gut. It is 
obviously benign, and but for the mechanical disturbance 
resulting from its lodgment in the restricted peritoneal 
cavity it would not have affected the general health of the 
fish. But the wall of the abdomen covering the tumour 
must have become rather thin, and then pressure upon the 
fish must have resulted in the rupture of this wall. 
II. Soft Fibroma. 
The second specimen was given to me by Dr. J. H. 
O’Connell, to whom the fish exhibiting it was shown by 
a fishmonger. Dr. O’Connell cut out the tumour and 
preserved it, so I had no opportunity of examining the 
fish. The latter was a large haddock, and the growth was 
