8 
SEXUAL SELECTIOX. 
Part II. 
‘^from its brilliant gem-like colours.’' When freshly- 
taken from the sea the body is yellow of various shades, 
striped and spotted with vivid blue on the head ; the 
dorsal fins are pale brown with dark longitudinal bands ; 
the ventral, caudal and anal fins being bluish-black. 
The female, or sordid dragonet, was considered by Lin- 
naeus and by many subsequent naturalists as a distinct 
Fig. 28 . Callionymus lyra. Upper figure, male; lower figure, female. 
species ; it is of a dingy reddish-brown, with the dorsal 
fin brown and the other fins white. The sexes differ also 
in the proportional size of the head and mouth, and in 
the position of the eyes ; but the most striking differ- 
rence is the extraordinary elongation in the male (fig. * 28 ) 
" I have drawn up this description from Yarrell’s ‘ British Fisho 
vol. i. 1836, p. 261 and 266. 
