THIRTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT 99 
identical with those secured by Dugmore. Neither are they the 
results of gradual change, brought about by living in captivity, 
since changes of color occur hourly; in fact, may occur at any 
moment and are usually instantaneous. They begin to be in evi- 
dence within an hour of the arrival of new specimens, or as 
soon as they recover from the alarm caused by handling, and are 
produced as long as the fishes live in the tanks, which, in some 
cases, may be several years. 
The markings in the Dugmore photographs, as well as those 
made in the New York Aquarium, are not those produced by 
mere excitement, but rather those caused by real alarm and the 
desire to hide. The markings and colors resulting from such 
moderate excitements as play, fighting, feeding, turning on of 
electric lights, etc., are quite different and have not yet been 
caught by the camera, portrayed by the artist, or recorded in 
the books. 
The colors shown on many of the well-known colored plates 
of West Indian fishes are, therefore, not those of normal condi- 
tions, but rather those of dying, or dead and rapidly fading fishes. 
The colors so observed are the vestiges of the last color excite- 
ments of the fishes. Even if painted in a portable aquarium (as 
some of them were) from newly caught wild fishes, they show 
hiding or alarm colors only, and represent in each case merely 
one of several possible phases of coloration. 
Fishes newly introduced to captivity do not remember their 
alarms very long, but emerge from their hiding places when 
quiet 1s restored. They soon show interest in life, by feeding, 
fighting and playing, and the observer in the New York Aqua- 
rium will quickly discover that the fishes habitually masquerade 
in colors and patterns which are apparently unknown to ichthy- 
ologists. 
A little frightening of most of these fishes drives them to the 
lower or the darker portions of the tanks, where the hiding col- 
ors are maintained as long as the fishes try to conceal themselves. 
The turning on of artificial light usually has an enlivening effect 
on the fishes, many of them swimming nearer the surface and 
showing brighter color. It often has the effect of drawing all the 
specimens of certain species from the bottom to mid-tank or 
higher. Feeding produces a change in certain species, which 
may last for some time after they have ceased darting at the par- 
ticles of food falling down through the water. With few excep- 
tions, the various sudden changes of color occur in the young, as 
