FISHES 



221 



excess of a lipochrome giving a reddish colour, and blue hands, 

 doubtless due, as in the Dragonet, to special aggregations of 

 reflecting substance or guanin. This case would form an 

 interesting subject for renewed investigation. As the young 

 males are stated to have the three dorsal black blotches seen 

 in the female, we may surmise that their disappearance is due 

 to the excessive production of the orange or red pigment. 

 In this case, as in that of the Dragonet, our present know- 

 ledge shows no difference in conditions of life between male 

 and female, except the nervous excitement of the male at the 

 breeding time, and so far it may be considered to afford 

 support to the explanation offered above of the special 

 development of colour in the male. As in the Dragonet, 

 Saville Kent's evidence shows that the colours lose their 

 brilliancy after the breeding season. 



In Coris julis, Gtinther, another species of the family 

 Labridse or Wrasses, there is, besides a marked difference in 

 coloration between the sexes, a slight structural difference of 

 the same kind which occurs in several other species of various 

 families. The three first spines in the male are slightly 

 elongated, being nearly equal to half the vertical height of 

 the body. The colours of the two sexes are thus described 

 by Day. 



Male. Purplish or bluish brown along the upper half of 

 the body, and silvery white below. Along the upper half 

 runs a broad yellowish white and generally indented line, 

 which commences behind the eye and is continued to the 

 base of the caudal fin. Dorsal fin, yellowish, with a purple 

 or orange outer edge, and a large oval black or bluish spot on 

 the anterior portion. 



Female. Upper third of the body purplish, with a light 

 yellow band extending from the eye to the base of the tail. 

 Lower two-thirds of the body silvery, with one or more 

 yellow longitudinal bands. A dark spot in the axil of the 



