i62 SALT-WATER FISHES 



is much more smartly attired than the female, and in the 

 breeding-season this is particularly conspicuous. For a long 

 time, indeed, the male and female of C. lyra were regarded 

 as two species, going by the names of the Yellow and Dusky 

 Skulpins. " Yellow " gives but a faint idea of the beautiful 

 wedding-coat of the male, with its blue and yellow and purple 

 bands and pale blue spots. The male is further distinguished 

 by long threads that grow from the dorsal fin, and that are 

 probably erected to intimidate enemies ; and it has been seen 

 in the aquarium to attract its duller mate by going through 

 antics like those of farmyard fowls,* his dorsal rays streaming 

 in the water, and his mouth protruding. The female dragonet 

 has also been said to masquerade occasionally in male attire, 

 much after the fashion of old hen pheasants, but this seems 

 to require confirmation. 



The Gemmeous Dragonet {Callionymus lyra), of which the 

 male has been already described (the female is of a uniform 

 brown, with spots and blotches), has a pointed mouth with 

 small orifice, and is said to feed on molluscs. Unlike the 

 gobies and suckers, it lays floating eggs, which are seen under 

 the microscope to be curiously reticulated. The advantage 

 of this structure has not yet been explained. Nor are 

 naturalists agreed as to the object and cause of the striking 

 secondary sexual characters aforenamed. Some are of opinion 

 that the females would continue in each succeeding generation 

 to mate with the best-dressed males, the latter consequently 

 transmitting their bright hues to posterity, and the duller 

 males dying bachelors in the course of time. Others take 

 exception to this theory of selection, and prefer to regard 

 the duller colouring of the female as the special departure, 

 having for its object to ensure her safety during the breeding- 

 time. This view, while in many respects unsatisfactory, finds 



* Perhaps the most interesting account ever pubhshed of the appear- 

 ance and habits of the dragonet is that contributed by Holt (with an 

 admirable tigure) to the Froc. Zool. Soc, 1898, pp. 281 et. seq. 



