52 



CORA D. REEVES. 



made a note of the pairings observed and in 57 cases recorded 

 the color of the male. These results are arranged in the follow- 

 ing table. 



Table Showing the Color of the Pairing Males in Fifty-seven 

 Spawnings of Etheostoma cceruleum. 



The largest males and many of the somewhat smaller ones 

 are bright colored and are classed as bright. Others of the 

 smaller males are not so bright and are classed as medium ; the 

 small fish with little color are classed as dull. If we divide the 

 medium class between the bright and dull we have a ratio 

 of 39 bright to 18 medium and dull or a percentage of about 

 68 to 32. This is perhaps as fair a statement of the results 

 as can be made. The work, however, does not furnish con- 

 clusive evidence of selection because the results are compli- 

 cated by the presence of supernumerary males. In 17 of 

 the 35 cases recorded in the table for bright males there were 

 from 1 to 6 of the smaller fish present. Though it is prob- 

 able that they are less effective in the fertilization of the eggs 

 than are the bright males, they cannot be neglected in the con- 

 sideration of the problem. This is more evident from the fact 

 that the brilliant males rarely take a position among the super- 

 numerary ones. The table shows that the small males succeed 

 more frequently toward the close of the season than at the be- 

 ginning. If it were true that only the larger females spawn the 

 first of the season then it would be relatively sure that there was 

 selection by the pairing during this time of the larger and better 

 developed fish of both sexes, but this is not the case because 

 among the very first day's notes is the statement that the females 

 spawning varied in size from those only about one third the size 

 of the large males to those as large as the average fish. In 

 spite of these disturbing factors, the larger percentage of cases in 



