~ Pelagic Organisms 
remarkable case of protective colouring. Un- 
fortunately, nearly all the more highly developed 
forms display conspicuous pigment (as in most 
jelly-fish) in some part of the body. 
‘“An animal floating about in the sea,” writes 
Beddard, “ perfectly transparent, but decked with 
dense black patches, of the size of saucers, would 
betray its whereabouts even to the least observant; 
if the observer were stimulated by hunger or fear, 
the conspicuousness would not be lessened. . . . 
Besides the internecine warfare which is con- 
tinually going on amongst the smaller surface 
organisms, they are devoured wholesale by the 
larger pelagic fish, and by whales and other 
Cetacea. A whale, rushing through the water 
with open mouth and gulping down all before 
him, is not the least inconvenienced by the 
invisibility of the organisms devoured in such 
enormous quantities; nor do a solid phalanx of 
herring or mackerel stop to look carefully for 
their food: they take what comes in their way, 
and get plenty in spite of ‘protective absence of 
colouration.’ 
“If the transparency of the pelagic organisms be 
due entirely to natural selection, it is remarkable 
that there is so little modification in this direction 
among the species inhabiting the bottom at such 
depths as are accessible to the sun’s rays; the 
advantage gained by this transparency and con- 
sequent invisibility would be equally great. And 
N 193 
