86 INTRODUCTION. 



spirit. A not less striking alteration almost imme- 

 diately takes place in the defeated party ; his gallant 

 bearing forsakes him ; his gay colours fade away, 

 and he becomes again speckled and ugly. Once 

 more, previous to death, they reassume all those 

 brilliant colours which they lost from defeat, al- 

 though they are not so clear and distinct as when 

 in the height of their power." (Mag. of Nat. Hist, 

 iii. 329.) 



PARASITIC FUNGI IN FISHES. 



The attacks made by Parasites, animal and vege- 

 table, on the whole series of the animal kingdom, hav- 

 ing lately greatly excited the attention of Foreign 

 and British Naturalists, we shall briefly allude to the 

 subject, and notice a few of the extraordinary facts 

 which are being discovered, and which, as remarked 

 by Professor Eschricht of Copenhagen, are like the 

 first discovered plants of a terra incognita, which 

 promise the richest harvest to future inquirers. 



On the wide field of Animal parasites we dare 

 scarcely touch : but how startling the proposition 

 of the eminent Naturalist just named, that the 

 Fauna of these parasites is probably as extended as 

 all the other faunas put together ; a statement which 

 is all the more probable from the fact which seems 

 established, that each species selects generally cer- 

 tain animals only, and in these, certain organs only, 

 for their abode. This is true of the Lernea elongata, 

 whose anatomy was examined by our friend Pro- 

 fessor Grant, and which selects the eye of the Green- 



