414 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



The aspect of the British submarine fauna is in general 

 more iemarkable for elegance of form and neat simplicity than 

 for glaring or vivid hues. " The smaller kinds of sponges are 

 not seldom brilliantly dyed, but the more conspicuous kinds are 

 tawny or brownish. The sea-anemones are elegantly variegated 

 with rich colours, but the majority of zoophytes are not strikingly 

 tinted. The star-fishes, as a group, are most remarkable among 

 the invertebrata for gorgeous painting, but our sea-urchins 

 are sombre when compared with their relatives from warmer 

 seas. The jelly-fish are occasionally tinged with delicate hues, 

 and some of the smaller kinds even showily ornamented; but 

 those which most figure in our waters are not conspicuous on 

 account of colour, however elegant in their contours. Our . 

 marine shells, though often pretty, are not gaudy or attractive, 

 except in rare instances. The same may be said with almost 

 equal truth of our marine crustaceans, though, on close inspection, 

 the elegance of device on the carapaces of many species is ex 

 ceedingly admirable." 



Our fishes are not distinguished by brilliancy of colour. 

 "Their hues are quaker-like, though sufficiently lustrous for 

 sober tinting. The cod and flounder tribes are among the most 

 characteristic, and such of the more common fishes as belong to 

 families of which we have but few representatives are in most 

 instances clothed in sober grey and silver. Beauty of no mean 

 description may, however, be displayed by these modest vest- 

 ments ; as, for instance, in the mackerel and the herring. Our 

 gorgeously decorated wrasses form the chief exception to the 

 general rule, but these belong to a family more characteristic of 

 the southern seas. A like deficiency in the numbers of the 



gurnard and mackerel tribes se- 

 riously affects the aspect of our 

 piscine fauna when compared 

 with denizens of the Mediter- 

 ranean." The sharks and rays 

 too are comparatively deficient, 

 although a few species, as we 

 have seen in a former chapter, 

 are, to the great annoyance of our fishermen, over-abundant. 

 The sea-eels are also few, though in the common conger and 



