DR. STARK'S EXPERIMENTS. 73 



spirits ; from all which I infer that their physical suf- 

 ferings are less than we suppose, and that the quiver- 

 ings which they exhibit when dying are rather of a 

 galvanic (which the change of colour seems to counten- 

 ance) than of a convulsive or very painful character. 

 It is, at least, comfortable for those who have been ac- 

 cessory in early life to much apparent suffering, to find 

 out afterwards that the suffering was more apparent 

 than real.' 



" Sir David Brewster stated to the Society that he 

 had been led to consider this subject in consequence 

 of a correspondence with W. Scrope, Esq., who had 

 paid much attention to the change of colour in fishes. 

 Mr. Scrope was of opinion that a real change of colour 

 took place, if not voluntarily, at least very quickly ; 

 and he supported his views by the following opinions 

 of Mr. Yarrell and Mr. Shaw : — 



'"An interesting account (says Mr. Yarrell) of some 

 experiments made by Dr. Stark, was published in 

 Jamieson's Edinburgh Journal for 1830, page 327. It 

 shows that the colour of sticklebacks, and some other 

 small fishes, is influenced not only by the colour of 

 the earthenware or other vessel in which they are kept, 

 but also modified by the quantity of light to which 

 they are exposed ; becoming pale when placed in a 

 white vessel in darkness, even for a comparatively 

 short time, and regaining their natural colour when 

 placed in the sun. From these circumstances, observed 

 also in some species of other genera, Dr. Stark is led 

 to infer that fishes possess, to a certain extent, the 

 power of accommodating their colour to the ground or 



