1889." 



on the Life-history of a Marine Food-fish. 



389 



fishes are nearly transparent, and this is more or less the case 



throughout, though in the majority — even before they leave the egg — 



points of pigment appear here and there 



in the skin, so as to give them a distinc- Fig. 3. 



Live character (Fig. 3). After hatching, 



these pigment-spots branch out in a 



stellate manner, thus becoming more 



evident, and it is found that in most cases 



each little food-fish has colours of its own. 



Thus the cod (Fig. 4) is known by its 



four somewhat regular black bands, the 



pigment on the haddock being less defined, 



the whiting by its canary-yellowish hue, 



the gurnard by its chrome-j'ellow, the 



ling by its gamboge-yellow, the flounder 



by its yellow and black, and so on. All 



these hues, however, become greatly 



modified during subsequent develoj)ment, indeed the pigment in no 



group of vertebrates shows more remarkable changes between the 



young and adult states than certain of our food-fishes. Thus for 



instance the cod is characteristically speckled in its tiny youth 



Flounder, showing pigment 

 in the &Q,g, 



Fig. 4. 



Fig. 5. 



A ^^^ 



/n^ 



K 



Larval Cod with black spots or 

 bands, slightly enlarged. 



Aggregation of pigment in 

 Post-larval Cod. 



(Fig. 4), next it becomes more or less uniformly tinted, then the 

 pigment groups itself somewhat irregularly on the sides (Fig. 5); 

 thereafter it is boldly tesselated (Fig. 6), subsequently blotched 



Fig. 6. 



Tesselated condition of young Cod (spirit-preparatiun). 



with reddish brown, and finally in its adult condition it again puts 

 on more or less uniform tints. The ling shows a similar series 



