ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY Bl^LLETIN. 



701 



SAME FISH AS FIGURES 3 AND 4, ON A DIFFERENT BOTTOM 



nial specimens possessed this power in a ver\- 

 limited degree. Again, the same fish acquired 

 with practice (if we uiaj- use the expression) the 

 power of changing more rapidly than at first. 

 The time necessary for a radical change of 

 shade or of pattern ranged from a few seconds 

 to several days. 



E.Kiseriments with fishes which had been de- 

 prived of their sight showed clearly that it was 

 through the eyes that the stimuli were received 

 which were necessary for the adjustment of the 

 animal to its background. This, however, had 

 already been clearly proved by earlier students 

 of color changes. 



A word in regard to the utility of this power 

 of copying the background in the life of the 

 organism. It is diflicult to doubt either that 

 this faculty has some use. or that it has in some 

 way been developed because of its use. The 

 end attained seems to be concealment and noth- 

 ing else. Whether the object of this concealment 

 is primarily offensive or defensive cannot, how- 

 ever, be stated without a greater familiarity with 

 the animal's mode of life. It is not unlikely that 

 both ends are attained, for we know, on the 

 other liand. that Hounders devour smaller fishes, 

 and on the one hand, that they themselves be- 

 come the prey of sharks and other large species. 



TRANSPORTING LIVE ANIMALS WITH 

 THE AID OF OXYGEN. 



Photographs by Oehlrichs & Co. made at the N. Y. Aquarium. 



AVERY interesting exjjeriment in the trans- 

 portation of aquarium specimens has re- 

 centh' been made b}' Mr. Emil Gundelach 

 of Gehlberg, German}', with the assistance of 



the New York Aquarium. 

 .\rrangements were made 

 through the forwarding 

 house of Oehlrichs & Co. of 

 this city for the shijiment of 

 living specimens from the 

 Aquarium to !Mr. Gunde- 

 lach's home in Germany, in 

 the following manner: 



Sixteen three-liter glass 

 jars were filled with water 

 a n d the specimens intro- 

 duced. The jars were then 

 inverted under water, as in 

 a pneumatic trough, and 

 oxygen gas introduced to re- 

 place the water until the 

 jars were about one-third 

 full of the oxygen. The 

 jars were then tightly 

 corked and covered wit|i 

 parchment to prevent any escape of the gas. 

 They were packed in crates and shipped at once 

 on the North German Lloyd steamship Kaiser 

 Wilhelm der Grosse on the morning of Septem- 

 ber 13. ' 

 The list of specimens used by the Aquarium 

 in this experiment was as follows : 



Common sunfish, (Eupumotis gibbosus), in 

 fresh water; variegated minnow, {Ci/piinodon 

 variegatus) ; cunner, {Tautogolabrus udsper- 

 ius) ; beau gregorv, {Eupomacentrus leucostic- 

 tus) ; star corals, {Asliangia danae) ; sea anem- 

 ones, {Sagariia Iticia') ; tunicates, {Molgula 

 manhattensis) ; common shrimps, {Crangon vul- 

 garis) ; horseshoe crabs, {Limulus polyphemus), 

 a coujjle of dozen of j'oung just hatched, and 

 one so large that it could not straighten out in 

 the jar; fiddler crabs, {Uca pugnax). several 

 specimens in wet sand with an atmosphere of 

 oxygen. 



This widely varied selection was jjurposelv 

 made by me to test the possibilities of the ex- 

 periment. 



An extract from Mr. Gundelach's letter of 

 September 26, acknowledging the receipt of the 

 specimens, shows what success was met with. 

 "The collection arrived at Gehlberg on the even- 

 ing of September ■i'i. Notwithstanding the 

 length of time (over nine days) the specimens 

 reached my home in safety. The beau gregory 

 and the cunner got chilled because the tempera- 

 ture was too low, and both of these fishes died 

 the next day, but all the other specimens live 

 and are in the best of condition. It is very im- 



