THIRTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT 97 
observation disport themselves habitually under phases of colora- 
tion which are apparently unrecorded in the standard works on 
West Indian species. 
The accompanying photographs will temporarily serve to illus- 
trate some of the aspects under which the fishes exhibit them- 
selves, as far, at least, as can be done in mere black and white, 
without the aid of colored plates, which are not yet available. 
The only plate in color, that devoted to the red grouper, has been 
hastily prepared by the artist, by tinting the photographs taken 
from iife. It has been reproduced by one of the cheaper proc- 
esses, and is by no means as satisfactory a presentation of the 
species as could have been secured by lithography. It shows, 
however, two phases of color fairly well. 
The ordinary photographs were secured by transferring fishes 
to a small portable tank, which could be carried into the sunlight. 
This tank is about fifteen inches in length and the same in height, 
but only four inches wide. Its use involves considerable hand- 
ling of the specimens, and all photographs made with it show 
only those phases of color and markings which are peculiar to 
frightened and hiding fishes. 
Photographs made in this way present but one, or, at best two 
phases of color. There seem to be difficulties in the way of pho- 
tographing other phases, since they are displayed only when 
the fishes are undisturbed, in the large exhibition tanks, which 
are so jarge as to allow specimens to get out of focus. They are, 
moreover, too dark to permit of instantaneous photography, and 
the use of flashlight has not yet given satisfactory results, there 
being a lack of detail. Mr. Spencer’s photograph of the red par- 
rot-fishes (plate 5, fig. 3) is a fairly satisfactory flashlight, 
but the fishes were under some excitement and had sought the 
bottom of the tank. One individual in the rear had taken on the 
dark hiding colors, but the two large specimens in front were 
caught in half-mottled guises. 
A study of the admirable photographs of West Indian fishes 
by Mr. A. R. Dugmore, published in American Food and Game 
Fishes, by Jordan and Evermann, shows that they are all pic- 
tures of the fishes in what may be called their hiding colors, and 
are, I am authoritatively informed, the results of photography 
with a small portable aquarium. 
The objection may be raised that the color phases here de- 
scribed as habitual among fishes in the New York Aquarium are 
merely the results of captivity, but this is not the case. Our 
own photographic results from many of the same species are 
