ZOOLOGICAL 
Fic. 5: 
SAME FISH AS FIGURES 3 AND 4, ON A DIFFERENT BOTTOM. 
mal specimens possessed this power in a very 
limited degree. Again, the same fish acquired 
with practice (if we may use the expression) the 
power of changing more rapidly than at first. 
The time necessary for a radical change of 
shade or of pattern ranged from a few seconds 
to several days. 
Experiments with fishes which had been de- 
prived of their sight showed clearly that it was 
through the eyes that the stimuli were received 
which were necessary for the adjustment of the 
animal to its background. This, however, had 
already been clearly proved by earlier students 
of color changes. 
A word in regard to the utility of this power 
of copying the background in the life of the 
organism. It is difficult to doubt either that 
this faculty has some use, or that it has in some 
way been developed because of its use. The 
end attained seems to be concealment and noth- 
ing else. Whether the object of this concealment 
is primarily offensive or defensive cannot, how- 
ever, be stated without a greater familiarity with 
the animal’s mode of life. It is not unlikely that 
both ends are attained, for we know, on the 
other hand, that flounders devour smaller fishes, 
and on the one hand, that they themselves be- 
come the prey of sharks and other large species. 
TRANSPORTING LIVE ANIMALS WITH 
THE AID OF OXYGEN. 
Photographs by Oehlrichs & Co. made at the N. Y. Aquarium. 
VERY interesting experiment in the trans- 
portation of aquarium specimens has re- 
cently been made by Mr. Emil Gundelach 
of Gehlberg, Germany, with the assistance of 
SOCIETY 
BULLETIN. 701 
the New York Aquarium. 
Arrangements were made 
through the forwarding 
house of Oehlrichs & Co. of 
this city for the shipment of 
living specimens from the 
Aquarium to Mr. Gunde- 
lach’s home in Germany, in 
the following manner: 
Sixteen three-liter glass 
jars were filled with water 
and the intro- 
duced. The jars were then 
inverted under water, as in 
a pneumatic trough, and 
oxygen gas introduced to re- 
place the water until the 
jars were about one-third 
full of the oxygen. The 
jars were then tightly 
corked and covered with 
parchment to prevent any escape of the gas. 
They were packed in crates and shipped at once 
on the North German Lloyd steamship Kaiser 
Wilhelm der Grosse on the morning of Septem- 
ber 13. 
The list of specimens used by the Aquarium 
in this experiment was as follows: 
specimens 
Common sunfish, (Hupomotis gibbosus), in 
fresh water; variegated minnow, (Cyprinodon 
variegatus); cunner, (T'autogolabrus adsper- 
sus); beau gregory, (Hupomacentrus leucostic- 
tus); star corals, (Astrangia danae) ; sea anem- 
ones, (Sagartia luciw); tunicates, (Molgula 
manhattensis) ; common shrimps, (Crangon vul- 
garis) ; horseshoe crabs, (Limulus polyphemus), 
a couple of dozen of young just hatched, and 
one so large that it could not straighten out in 
the jar; fiddler crabs, (Uca pugnax), several 
specimens in wet sand with an atmosphere of 
oxygen. 
This widely varied selection was purposely 
made by me to test the possibilities of the ex- 
periment. 
Mr. Gundelach’s letter of 
September 26, acknowledging the receipt of the 
An extract from 
specimens, shows what success was met with. 
“The collection arrived at Gehlberg on the even- 
ing of September 22. Notwithstanding the 
length of time (over nine days) the specimens 
reached my home in safety. The beau gregory 
and the cunner got chilled because the tempera- 
ture was too low, and both of these fishes died 
the next day, but all the other specimens live 
and are in the best of condition. It is very im- 
