2.^8 Prof. W. C. M'Intosli on the 



tinted with a silvery sheen and a cupreous lustre. Not till 

 it is between 3 and 5 inches long does the haddock seek the 

 inshore waters. To sum up : the haddock differs from the cod 

 in its larval coloration, agrees in its post-larval, and thereafter 

 diverges. If tiie tessellated condition of the cod is protective 

 amidst the tangle-forests, what can the function of the 

 isolated black spots on the whitish sides of the haddock be in 

 its deep-sea retreats and as it passes when from 3 to 5 inches 

 long to inshore waters? 



Mr. Beddard and Dr. Browne Goode think the colours of 

 certain fishes [e. g. rock-cod) are directly derived from red 

 algte through the coloured crustaceans, and Dr. Giinther and 

 Miss Newbigin have similar views in connexion with the 

 salmon. Mr. Beddard gives as his reason that if Natural 

 Selection had caused a change in colour, it would rather have 

 been by an alteration of existing pigment than by the forma- 

 tion of fresh pigment red in colour. Other fishes, however, 

 which feed largely on red crustaceans sliow no increase or 

 alteration of their pigment, and some which do not feed on 

 red forms of any kind may present similar pigment. Brightly 

 coloured wrasses, such as the rainbow-wrasse, occur at 

 considerable depths where no seaweeds are. The view 

 of Prof. Poulton, for which he cites also the support of 

 Prof. Herdman, that bright colours in fishes have a com- 

 pensation in increased wariness, whilst protectively coloured 

 forms are more readily caught, is interesting, but needs further 

 corroboration. 



Fishes, moreover, are a group in which it may be supposed, 

 and Mr. Darwin has supposed, that Sexual Selection has come 

 into play in connexion with beauty of colouring in the males. 

 In such fishes as the salmon, lump-sucker, goby, dragonet, 

 stickleback, and others the sexes are distinguished by marked 

 coloration at the spawning-season, the males being then 

 highly tinted. Moreover, the dragonet and Amoglossus are 

 examples of fishes in which the sexes are so ditferent that 

 they have each been described as separate species. On the 

 other hand, fishes like the cod, haddock, herring, pilchard, 

 and mackerel, which roam in vast siioals, are characterized 

 by the uniformity of tints in the sexes. Recently experi- 

 ments have been made with a view to test the selective 

 powers of the female fish in certain cases, as by Saville Kent 

 and Holt in the dragonet and by Heincke and Guitel in the 

 gobies. On the whole these have given no certain indication 

 of Sexual Selection on the part of the female, for she is as 

 readily attracted by a male of sober hues as by one in all the 



