414 THE INHABITANTS. OF-THE SEA. 
The aspect of the British submarine fauna is in general 
more remarkable for elegance of form and neat simplicity than 
for glaring or vivid hues. ‘The smaller kinds of sponges are 
not seldom brilliantly dyed, but the more conspicuous kinds are 
tawny or brownish. The sea-anemones are elegantly variegated 
with rich colours, but the majority of zoophytes are not strikingly 
tinted. The star-fishes, as a group, are most remarkable among 
the invertebrata for gorgeous painting, but our sea-urchins 
are sombre when compared with their relatives from warmer 
seas. The jelly-fish are occasionally tinged with delicate hues, 
and some of the smaller kinds even showily ornamented; but 
those which most figure in our waters are not conspicuous on 
account of colour, however elegant in their contours. Our 
marine shells, though often pretty, are not gaudy or attractive, 
except in rare instances. The same may be said with almost 
equal truth of our marine crustaceans, though, on close inspection, 
the elegance of device on the carapaces of many species is ex 
ceedingly admirable.” 
Our fishes are not distinguished by brilliancy of colour. 
“Their hues are quaker-like, though sufficiently lustrous for 
sober tinting. The cod and flounder tribes are among the most 
characteristic, and such of the more common fishes as belong to 
families of which we have but few representatives are in most 
instances clothed in sober grey and silver. Beauty of no mean 
description may, however, be displayed by these modest vest- 
ments; as, for instance, in the mackerel and the herring. Our 
gorgeously decorated wrasses form the chief exception to the 
general rule, but these belong to a family more characteristic of 
the southern seas. A like deficiency in the numbers of the 
gurnard and mackerel tribes se- 
riously affects the aspect of our 
piscine fauna when compared 
with denizens of the Mediter- 
ranean.” The sharks and rays 
too are comparatively deficient, 
although a few species, as we 
have seen in a former chapter, 
are, to the great annoyance of our fishermen, over-abundant. 
The sea-eels are also few, though in the common conger and 
Gurnard. 
