FISHES 223 



The two forms are commonly distinguished at Marseilles 

 as the Girelle royale and the Girelle de Geoffroi. Mr. Holt 

 states that the former, in which the three first dorsal spines 

 are elongated, has a brilliant coloration of linear bands of 

 green, blue, orange, red, etc. Also that it has on the side 

 a large blackish spot, more or less pronounced, and on the 

 dorsal fin a black spot bordered with red. That the Girelle 

 de Geoffroi has a more subdued coloration. The back, red or 

 brownish, is bordered below by a sombre medio-lateral band ; 

 on the ventral flank is a yellow band. He finds that the most 

 distinctive colour-marks of the royale are the medio-lateral 

 orange band with indented outline bordered above and below 

 with blue, and the large blackish spot on the side. Day, as 

 I have mentioned above, states that there is a black spot in 

 the axil of the pectoral fin in both forms, but the figures 

 illustrating the present discussion show plainly enough the 

 exclusive presence of the elongated dark lateral mark in the 

 royale. 



Gourret's opposition to the view which regards the two 

 forms as constituting a sexually dimorphic species appears to 

 be founded on two pieces of evidence : (1) That a naturalist 

 named Sarato found male specimens of Coris giofredi in full 

 sexual maturity ; (2) that he has himself seen two specimens 

 of C. jidis which were of the female sex. But the fact that 

 he expressly mentions the comparative scarcity of males in 

 the one form, and of females in the other, is enough to deprive 

 his arguments of nearly all their force. The evidence on 

 which he relies affords no proof whatever of his conclusion. 

 Mr. Holt confirms the fact that males with the characters of 

 giofredi are frequently mature, but this is merely an instance 

 of the general truth that unisexual characters are not fully 

 developed until after puberty. As for the two specimens of 

 Coris julis which were female, if he were not mistaken in 

 their sex, they may well have been two female specimens in 



