April 4, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



213 



nervous system. Day records that young hybrid salmon 

 raised at Howietoun, in which vision was more or less de- 

 ficient, were observed to be generally lighter in color than 

 their fellows. 



The fishes of the sea are more often brilliant than those 

 ■of the river or the lake. Warmth and light are favorable 

 to brightness and variety of hue. The fishes of circumpolar 

 regions, and those living at considerable depths, are there- 

 fore usually sombre, though occasionally they have irides- 

 ■cent scales or plates of great brilliancy. 



In temperate regions, as along the coasts of the United 

 States, sombre tones are most common, but in summer many 

 sunny-hued strangers come up from the south. 



In the tropical seas, however, the greatest beauty is to be 

 found ; and in some groups, such as the parrot fishes and the 

 wrasses, the most bizarre and astounding combinations of 

 masses of brilliant color. Harsh and inharmonious as they 

 seem, however, when imitated by the brush, they are never 

 Tinpleasing in the living creatures. The West Indian fauna 

 lias many wonderful fishes, — such as the angel-fish, Hola- 

 canthus ciliaris ; and the Spanish lady, Bodianus rufus, — 

 but the utmost possibilities of beauty are to be found only in 

 the Southern Pacific and the Indian Oceans. 



As Count Lacepede has so eloquently shown in the pas- 

 sage already quoted, no class of animals has been so richly 

 endowed with color as the fishes, except it may be the in- 

 sects; and the effect of brilliancy in a fish is much greater on 

 account of its larger size. Birds appear at a disadvantage in 

 comparison, because, except in the metallic patches on the 

 throats of the humming bird and a few similar instances, the 

 surfaces of their feathers are not so well adapted to display 

 as the broad burnished sides of fishes, kept constantly moist 

 and lustrous by contact with water. 



The beauty of Bshes can only be known to those who 

 have had the good fortune to see them swimming at ease, 

 bathed in the limpidest of water and the brightest of sun- 

 shine. Aquaria are always dark and gloomy, and their 

 glass walls seem more prison-lilje than the bars of a menage- 

 rie cage. Museum preparations do not tell of the vanished 

 beauty even so well as the lifeless bodies of the fishes them- 

 selves, and every angler knows how suddenly the dead fish 

 loses its attractions of texture and color. This change has 

 been well described by Dr. Badham in the following lines: — 



" While blazing breast of humming-bird and lo's stiffened wing 

 Are bright as when they first came forth new-painted in the spring, 

 While speckled snake and spotted pard their markings still display, 

 Though he who once embalmed them both himself be turned to clay, 

 On fish a different fate attends ; nor reach they long the shore 

 Ere fade their hues like rainbow tints, and soon their beauty' s o'er. 

 The eye that late in ocean's flood was lai-ge and round and full 

 Becomes on laud a sunken orb, glaucomatous and dull ; 

 The gills, like mushrooms, soon begin to turn from pink to black ; 

 The blood congeals in stasis thick, the scales upturn and crack; 

 And those fair forms a Veronese, in art'.s meridian power, 

 With every varied tint at hand, and in his happiest hour, 

 Could ne'er in equal beauty deck, and bid the canvas live, 

 Are now so colorless and cold, a Rembrandt's touch might give." 



G. Brown Goode. 



NATURAL HISTORY GARDEN AND AQUARIA FOR 



BOSTON. 



At the meeting of the council of Uie Boston Society of Natural 

 History previous to that held on Wednesday last, it was voted to 

 recommend to the society, at its meeting of April 3, a i'esolution 

 to the effect, that, in puisuaiice of the policy recorded in the vote 

 of March 28, 1888, and adhering to the conditions therein re- 



quired, the society authorizes the council, as soon as one third of 

 the final sum required for the establishment of its natural history 

 garden and aquaria has been raised, to proceed with the estabfish- 

 ment of the aquarium at City Point, in accordance with the plans 

 laid down in the letter to the park commissioners of Dec. 31, 

 1889, which has received their approval. These plans will be best 

 understood from this letter, which is in substance as follows: — 



The Society of Natural History have been earnestly and con- 

 stantly engaged in work upon matters connected with the foun- 

 dation of natural-history gardens, since the receipt of the last 

 letter of the commissioners, dated Dec. 30, 1887, and have finally 

 concluded to offer the following as plans of what they deem to be 

 best, hoping, if these are accepted, to follow up this Urst step very 

 rapidly, so as to bring the matter speedily before the public. 

 They propose to designate all the collections of living animals 

 under their charge as the "Natural History Gardens," and to es- 

 tablish under this title tlnee different divisions, — one to be called 

 the "Marine Aquarium;" a second, the "Fresh Water Aqua- 

 rium;" and the third, the "New England Zoological Garden;" 

 these to be situated on grounds and to have buildings such as 

 may be mutually agreed upon by the commissioners and by the 

 society, in accordance with the provisions of the letter of the 

 commissioners above referred to. 



In compliance with the request of the park commissioners to 

 present a statement of the proposed policy of the society in regard 

 to the exhibits at the places designated by them, — namely, at City 

 Point, near Jamaica Pond, and at Franklin Park, — the council 

 offer for consideration the following general statement, and the 

 outline of their plans with reference to each of the three divis- 

 ions. 



The attention of the commissioners is invited at the outset to 

 the scientific and educational character of the plan of the Natural 

 History Gardens. The three divisions of this department of the 

 society's work, when regarded as a whole, form a connected series 

 of exhibitions, which will, it is hoped, illustrate, more completely 

 than has ever been done before, the relations of organisms to the 

 four great regions of their distribution, — the sea, the fresh water, 

 tjie land, and the air. The principle underlying the whole, and 

 to which each part, however small, has been made to contribute, 

 is the illustration of the relations of plants and animals to their 

 surroundings. The council believe that a full exposition of the 

 laws governing these correlations is the fittest use they can make 

 of the opportunities offered by the commissioners, and the most 

 valuable contribution which they and the commissioners acting 

 together can bring to the cause of public education. 



I. Marine Aquarium. 



In the maps of the proposed Marine Park the lands and ponds 

 assigned for the use of the society are admirably suited for the pur- 

 poses of a large aquarial garden; and the council desire to express 

 their satisfaction with these indications of the intentions of the 

 commissioners, for they confirm the council in the opinion that it 

 will be practicable to found a marine aquarium &t this place 

 which will be of unique excellence as an instrument of popular 

 interest and education. 



1. A collection of living organisms arranged and exhibited for 

 the illustration of natural laws has a fuller effect if the minds of 

 the students and visitors have been prepared by previous study, 

 or, in place of this, if they have at band a brief explanation of the 

 general structure and relation of animals and plants to each other 

 and to their surroundings. 



The society propose to supply this explanation by means of an 

 epitome collection, which, with a printed guide, shall explain the 

 structure and relations of the more important subdivisions of ani- 

 mals and plants, the general adaptations of the structure of or- 

 ganisms to an aquatic existence, and the fact that under ordinary 

 conditions, however diverse, the organisms retain their typical 

 structures. This collection would consist of two classes of ob 

 jects, — (a) a series of representative forms, including the principal 

 types of animals and plants; ib) such genex-al dissections and other 

 anatomical preparations of selected types, accompanied by dia- 

 grams, as may enable the oliserver to grasp the fundamental 

 points of the structure, physiology, and correlations of the animal 



