148 REPORTS OF INVESTIGATIONS AND PROJECTS. 



Mr. Carl Kellner finds that a new species of house-making appendicularian 

 {Oiko pleura tortugensis) bears parasitic embryos, apparently its own, at- 

 tached to its tail. 



Prof. Edwin Linton made an interesting observation upon the habits of 

 the fish Fierasfer aMiiis, which lives commensally within holothurians. The 

 fish inserts the tip of its long pointed tail within the cloacal orifice of the holo- 

 thurian, and then draws itself backwards into its host. 



Dr. J. F. McClendon studied the feeding habits and general reactions of 

 the sea-anemone Cradactis, which lives in the crevices of corals and crawls 

 about upon its tentacles. He also discovered an interesting case of parallel- 

 ism in habits and general appearance between the Crustacea Synalpheus and 

 an Amphipod, both of which live within the cavities of the loggerhead sponge. 

 His paper has been presented to the Carnegie Institution of Washington for 

 publication. 



Prof. Jacob Reighard discovered that the brilliantly colored fish which live 

 among the crevices of coral reefs and which previous observers had assumed 

 were warningly colored, are in fact voraciously eaten by the gray snapper 

 whenever this predaceous fish can capture them. Hence they are not warn- 

 ingly colored, but owe their immunity solely to the protection of the coral 

 caverns. Nevertheless, Professor Reighard found that the gray snapper 

 could distinguish colors, and that it could be taught to associate a definite 

 color with an unpleasant taste ; for when the prey is given an artificial warn- 

 mg color and at the same time rendered unpalatable, after a brief experience 

 it is no longer taken as food by the gray snapper. Thus warning coloration 

 may be artifically established, but appears not to exist in nature. In these 

 experiments Professor Reighard dyed red the so-called sardines (Atherina) 

 and the gray snappers fed upon these red fish without hesitation. Then, 

 however, the tentacles of a medusa were placed in the mouths of the red- 

 colored sardines and the gray snappers soon learned after a brief experience 

 with the stings to avoid them ; and they still avoided red-colored sardines 

 after an interval of 20 days had elapsed since they had last seen them, 

 although these later red fish had no medusa tentacles in their mouths. 



Professor Reighard's experiments are by far the most convincing that 

 have ever been carried out upon the subject of warning coloration, being 

 performed in surroundings natural to the animals themselves. He concludes 

 that the conspicuous coloration of coral-reef fishes is without biological sig- 

 nificance, and is the result of race tendency unchecked by selection. 



Prof. Charles R. Stockard carried out an important series of studies upon 

 the regeneration in the medusa Cassiopea xamachana. He finds that regen- 

 eration takes place more rapidly from cuts made near the center of the disk 

 than from cut edges near the margin of the bell. A small medusa regener- 



