Cjiap. XII. 
FISHES. 
21 
in colour may be observed, whether they lay their 
eggs in the water among aquatic plants, or deposit 
them in holes, leaving them to come out without 
further care, or build shallow nests in the river-mud, 
over which they sit, as our Promotis does. It ought 
also to be observed that these sitters are among the 
brightest species in their respective families ; for 
instance, Hygrogonus is bright green, with large 
black ocelli, encircled with the most brilliant red.’' 
Whether with all the species of Chromids it is the male 
alone which sits on the eggs is not known. It is, 
however, manifest that the fact of the eggs being pro- 
tected or unprotected, has had little or no influence on 
the differences in colour between the sexes. It is fur- 
ther manifest, in all the cases in which the males take 
exclusive charge of the nests and young, that the 
destruction of the brighter-coloured males would be far 
more influential on the character of the race, than the 
destruction of the brighter-coloured females ; for the 
death of the male during the period of incubation or 
nursing would entail the death of the young, so that 
these could not inherit his peculiarities; yet, in many 
of these very cases the males are more conspicuously 
coloured than the females. 
In most of the Lophobranchii (Pipe-fish, Hippo- 
campi, &c.) the males have either marsupial sacks or 
hemispherical depressions on the abdomen, in Avhich 
the ova laid by the female are hatched. The males 
also shew great attachment to their youiig.^^ The 
sexes do not commonly differ much in colour ; but Dr. 
Gunther believes that the male Hippocampi are rather 
brighter than the females. The genus Solenostoma, 
Yarrell, ‘ Hist, of Brltisli Fishes/ vol. ii. 1836, p. 329, 338. 
