PEOTECTIVE COLORATION. 



125 



and prolonged attention be given to them, ai'e dotted over with 

 pigment spots varying in number and position. If the reader 

 will take the trouble to refer to any work in which such pelagic 

 larvcB are iigured,* he will at once see that the general trans- 

 parency is interfered with by these spots. The accompanying 

 figure of Jlysis shows the ramified pigment patches ; they (the 

 spots) are, -it is true, not very evident to our eyes; but if we 



Fig. 9.— Mj'His. 



imagine ourselves of the same size as the minute members of 

 the pelagic fauna, or imagine them of the same size as our- 

 selves, it is difficult to believe in invisibility. 



An animal floating about in the sea, j^erfectly transparent but 

 decked with dense black patches, of the size of saucers, would 



* For example, • the elaborate and well-illustrated Memoir of Prof. 

 Macintosh and Mr. Prince, Trans. Roy. Soc, Edhihin-gh, vol. 



