Bean and Weed, — Coloration of Fishes. 75 



which had buried themselves in the sand were light gray with 

 black markings, while those that were swimming were various 

 shades of yellow and brown marked with darker brown. 



Early in the summer of 1908 a small catfish (Amciurus sp.) 

 was taken in a dip net in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, at 

 Chain Bridge, near Georgetown, D. C. When first taken it 

 was entirely black. Tins color persisted for several days and 

 was then replaced by a most unexpected pattern. The body 

 was black, but at the base of dorsal, adipose dorsal, anal and 

 caudal fins was a narrow white band so that each fin appeared 

 cut off from the body, which seemed to be a little piece of black 

 stick with some little pieces of rotted leaves (the black part of 

 the fins) near it. The caudal fin was in reality truncate, but 

 there was a large white patch in it which made it appear 

 that the upper and lower rays were greatly produced. This 

 color in turn, after a few weeks, was replaced by the black 

 color of the adult. 



Although many notes on the coloration of fishes have been 

 published they are scattered through the literature of every 

 branch of ichthyology. 



We offer the following partial list of the more recent papers: 



1897 — A. E. Verrill — Nocturnal Protective Coloration of Fishes. Am. 

 Nat., Vol. XXXI, Feb., 1897, 99-103. Am. Journ. Sci., Vol. 

 Ill, 1897, 132-136. Abstract of paper read before Am. Morph. 

 Soc, Dec. 30, 1896. 



1905— D. S. Jordan— A Guide to the Study of Fishes. New York, 1905. 

 Vol. I, pp. 226 to 236. 



1907— Raveret-Wattel— " Le Pecheur" 18 anee No. 421, Sept. 30, 1907, 

 p. 7(37. " La coloration des Poissons " gives an account of the 

 slow color changes in fishes under the influence of great changes 

 in color of environment. 



1908 — Francis Ward — Markings and colors in fish. How they protect 

 their wearers. Scientific American, Supplement No. 1714, p. 

 297. New York, 1908. A few notes on protective relation of 

 color to surroundings in Stone Loach, Pike and Gudgeon. 

 Experiments on Pike with head in dark and body in light and 

 vice versa. This paper was apparently published or offered for 

 publication in " Country Life," but we have not found it in that 

 magazine. 



