THE ANNALS 
MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
[SEVENTH SERIES. ] 
No. 39. MARCH 1901. 
XXIX.—The Coloration of Marine Animals. By W. C. 
M‘Intosu, Professor of Natural History in the University 
of St. Andrews *, 
THE coloration of marine animals has long formed the theme 
of many a descriptive text and ancient figure—in which sea- 
flowers, sun-stars, purple urchins, gorgeously iridescent 
annelids, blue and red crabs, the very varied and beautiful 
tints of shellfishes and cuttlefishes, and the endless hues and 
resplendent lustre of fishes were each in turn portrayed. 
Some of the old authors even went into the origin and 
meaning of such tints. On the present occasion, however, it 
is not so much the abstract beauty everywhere so prevalent in 
the coloration of marine animals (and these chiefly British) 
which will form the subject of our attention, but rather the 
application of certain recent theories to the explanation of the 
tints so characteristic of many marine animals. 
As indicated, the older naturalists in many cases clearly 
recognized the connexion between the tints of an animal and 
its surroundings. It was reserved for the illustrious Charles 
Darwin and other distinguished naturalists, such as Mr. Wal- 
lace, and many of the younger zoologists who follow in their 
footsteps, to endeavour to explain the production and modifi- 
cation of the tints of land-animals (the term being used in its 
* The Introductory Lecture for Session 1900-1901. 
Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 7. Vol. vii. 16 
