Changes in quantities of water, sodium, potassium, lipid and protein were compared in developing eggs and yolk-sac larvae of herring dupes harengus L., a species with demersal eggs, and plaice Pleuroncctcs platessa L., a species with pelagic eggs. The principal difference between the two species was the occurrence in herring, but not in plaice of considerable increases in water content and in one or both of the above ions at three distinct stages: at fertilization,during the middle stage of egg development, and in the days immediately after hatching. Newly hatched larvae of the two species differed greatly in water content because of the difference in mass and water content of the yolk, not in the water content of the rest of the body. In herring, there were increases in sodium and potassium which coincided broadly with the increase in water content. These differences are related to the gradual acquisition of buoyancy by herring during this period, comparable with the buoyancy conferred on plaice eggs a Changes in quantities of water, sodium, potassium, lipid and protein were more than in developing eggs and yolk-sac larvae of herring dupes harengus L., a species with demersal eggs, and plaice Pleuroncctcs platessa L., a species with pelagic eggs. The principal difference between the two species was the occurrence in herring, but not in plaice of cells increases in water content and in one or both of the above ions at three distinct stages: at fertilization, during the middle stage of egg development, and in the days immediately after hatching. Newly hatched larvae of the two species differed greatly in water content because of the difference in mass and water content of the yolk, not in the water content of the rest of the body. In herring, there were increases in sodium and potassium which coincided broadly with the increase in water content. These differences are related to the gradual acquisition of buoyancy by herring during this period, comparable with the buoyancy conferre d on plaice eggs a