290 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Jime ; , 



of this species at the time of the tests was found to be the sardine 

 (Atherina'laticeps), a silvery fish that could readily be stained any 

 color. A large number of Atherina stained vermilion, yellow, 

 green, blue, or purple were eaten practically as rapidly as fed. Others 

 dyed and treated with formic acid, formaldehyde, red pepper, quinine, 

 ammonia, or carbon bisulphid were taken with equal readiness. 

 Atherina were made unpalatable, however, by sewing in their mouths 

 bits of the tentacles of medusa?, and an association of this unpala- 

 tability with a color (red) was established in the individuals of a 

 colony of 150 snappers. The association was found to persist at 

 least five weeks. 



The brightly colored fishes of the coral reefs were then offered to 

 the snappers, and they attempted to capture all offered, and actually 

 did take all but one species, of which the single large specimen 

 offered escaped. The species taken were of a variety of colors, 

 including colors and patterns considered as typically warning. In 

 several species " conspicuousness is combined with unpleasant 

 attributes in the form of defensive spines, the typical warning com- 

 bination, yet these fish were all instantly taken" (p. 303). 



It was further found "that the gray snapper discriminates with 

 great rapidity and delicacy between the various possible food ele- 

 ments of its environment, which are not conspicuously different 

 from each other," thus proving that the bright colors of the reef 

 fishes would be unnecessary even were their possessors unpalatable- 



Hence "the conclusion is reached that the conspicuousness of 

 coral-reef fishes, since it is not a secondary sexual character and has 

 no necessary meaning for protection, aggression, or as warning, is 

 without biological significance" (p. 320). 



AMPHIBIA. 



In Countries Other than the United States. 



Experiments dealing chiefly with Amphibia are few. Those of 

 Poulton with Hyla 9 are cited in another place. A. G. Butler, 

 Eltringham, Plateau, and Finn also record short experiments with 

 animals of this class. Butler published 10 the fact that he had found 

 the larvae of Abraxas grossulariata , Halia loauaria, and a sawfly, all 

 fed upon gooseberry, to be distasteful to frogs (and lizards). He 

 asks: "May it not be possible that the plant transmits some pecu- 



*Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1887, pp. 269-274. 

 l0 Ent. Monthly Mag. 5, 1808, pp. 131-132. 



