108 



Meetings, 1889. 



approach (i.e. chiefly when in shoals). Next the " Gobies?* 

 " Shannies" and the "Pipe fishes? 9 these all closely imitate 

 their surroundings. In the case of the latter, they would 

 escape observation among a handful of the " Cord weed " and 

 " Zostera " amongst which they live. 



Then we have others, say the ' Triglidoe 9 (Gurnards) 

 conspicuous fishes, mostly of pink, orange, or scarlet colour, 

 but clothed in defensive armour. 



Now let us compare with these our Labridce, here we 

 have the greatest diversity of coloration, some certainly, the 

 Green "Wrasse ( Labrus lineatus ) and the Comber Wrasse 

 ( L. comber) bearing similarity to the Laminaria or Fucus, 

 which clothes the rocks among which they live. But then, in 

 the very same localities, so that in angling for them they come 

 up indiscriminately, we have the bright orange and blue 

 Cuckoo-fish (L. mixtus), the large white spotted " Old Wife" 

 (L. bergylta), and the dark brown L. comber, and bright green 

 L. lineatus, all haunting the self-same spots. None of the 

 species armed. — true, the spinal ray fins are sharp, but they are 

 by no means defensive spines as seen in the other bright 

 species. Then if we turn to "sexual" selection to explain 

 this problem, we find that the bright colours pertain indis- 

 criminately to either sex. 



As nearly a last resource— in order to bring them into 

 conformity with a law that we see operate so unmistakably 

 among all their congeners, we seek refuge in 6i palatability " 

 (to coin a word). In the insect world, as is well known, 

 unarmed and yet conspicuous forms live on and multiply with 

 safety, through the fact that they are ' ' palatable " to the 

 animals that would prey upon them (e.g. the case of the 

 Cinnabar moth), but in our " Labridse " this does not operate, 

 they are all, both dull coloured and bright coloured, employed 

 with equal success by fishermen as "baits" for larger fish, 

 and by ourselves, they are used as food, and no difference of 

 flavour can be perceived between them. 



