Cons['icnousncss of Coral-Rcef Fishes. 297 



The results of these feeding experiments are shown in table 13, which 

 also includes one amphibian. The fishes fed were, with one exception 

 (Chcctodon occUatus), small enough to be taken by the snappers. Adult 

 individuals of the larger species would have been protected by their size. 

 The salient features of the coloration are given in table 13. For details the 

 reader is referred to systematic treatises (Jordan and Evermann, 1896; 

 Evermann and Marsh, 1900). The color and patterns given in the table 

 are those of the fish seen by the writer in their natural habitat at a little 

 distance, as the fish appear to the snappers. The descriptions have been 

 checked by comparison with captured fish. Preserved fish or those in 

 aquaria (upon which systematic descriptions are usually based) are less 

 brilliantly colored. Of the species listed, only Sparisoma flavescens is un- 

 questionably protectively colored, though Caranx crysos may be so. The 

 others are in varying degrees conspicuous. Iridio bivittatus (plate 4, fig. 7) 

 and the two species of TJuilassoma vary considerably. While less conspicu- 

 ous than the others they are to my eye conspicuous. Even casual observa- 

 tion of the remaining species in their natural habitat shows that they are 

 highly conspicuous. Black is a very common color; bright orange and 

 bright yellow are common. Bright metallic blue and green are also common. 

 Scarlet is not rare. All these colors are in strong contrast to those of the 

 reefs. Not only are the colors conspicuous, but they are combined in pat- 

 terns of contrasting colors. Black and white, black and yellow, or black, 

 white, and yellow in alternating bands or stripes are frequent patterns 

 (Abudefduf marginatus, plate i; Iridio bivittatiis, plate 4, fig. 7; Lutianus 

 grisens juv. ; Chcetodon ocellatus, plate 3, fig. 5; Chcctodon capistratus. 

 plate 3, fig. 6; Anisotremus virginicus juv.; Pomacanthus arcuatus juv.; 

 Angeliclithys ciliaris; Eques pulcher). 



Light metallic blue is found alternating in stripes or bands with blue so 

 dark as to be seemingly black (Elacatinus oceanops, plate 4, fig. 8), and with 

 these is sometimes associated a metallic green (Thalassoma bifaciatum). 

 Orange may be combined with metallic blue or black so that each covers 

 uninterruptably about half the surface of the fish {Pomacentrus leucostictns, 

 Pomaceiiiriis plaiiifrons) or yellow and blue may occur in alternating stripes 

 (Hceninlon sciunis, Hcvmulon flavolineatiiin, plate 2, fig. 3). Scarlet may 

 cover the whole surface or be combined with black {Amia (Apogoii) sclli- 

 cauda). A uniform black is common {Pomacentrus leucostictns at times, 

 Hepatus hepatus juv., plate 5, fig. 10, at a little distance). 



The colors and patterns are those typical of warningly-colored insects 

 (cf. Poulton, 1887, for a list of such colors in insects). They make their 

 possessor conspicuous in its normal environment (see plates i to 5). When 

 the coral-reef fish are seen by an observer in air he looks through the 

 surface film of the water and sees the fish usually in sharp contrast against 

 the gray-white sand or rock. It seemed to me worth w-hile to find out 

 whether the fish are equally conspicuous when seen by one beneath the snr- 



