OCR Text |
Show 8 , 'EXUAL RELECTION. PArrr II. "from its brilliant gem-like colours." W~lcn frcsllly 1 f tllo Sea the body is vellow of vanous sht~des, ta wn rom J striped ancl spotted with v~vid blue on .tho. head; tl~~ dor nl fins are pale brown wJth clark lo~gituchn~l ban<l~.' the ventral, caudal and a11al :fins bemg. blmsh-bla~·'· 1'he female, or sordid dragonct, was c~ns1derecl b~ ~11!mcus and by many subsequent naturalists as a d1sLmct l' ig. 28. Callionymus Jyrn. Upper figure, mnlc; lower figure, fcmnlc. species; it is of a dingy reddish-brown, with the dorsal fin brown and the other :fins white. The sexes differ al. o in the proportional size of the head and mouth, and in the position of the eyes; 11 but the most striking differrenee is the extraordinary elongation in the male (fig. :28) II I hnvo drawn up this <leseripticn from Yarrcll's 'British Fisbe. ,' vol. L 1836, p. 261 and 2GG. CliAl'. XII. FISIIES. of the dorsal fin. Tho young males resemble in structure and colour the adult females. Throughout the genus Callionymus,12 tho malo is generally much more brightly spotted than the female, and in several species, not only the dorsal, Lut the anal fin of the male is mnch elongat~d. 'fhe male of the Cottus scmpius, or sea-scorpion, is more slender ancl smaller than the female. 'fhere is also a great difference in colour between them. It is difficult, as 1\fr. Lloycl 13 rem::n·ks, "for any one, who has not seen "this :fish during the spawning-season, when its hues are "brightest, to conceive the admixture of brilliant colours "with which it, in other respects so ill-faYourcd, is at "that time adorned." Both sexes of the Labrus mixtus, although very different in colour, are beautiful; the male being orange with bright-blue stripes, and the female brig-ht-red with some black spots on the back. In the very distinct family of the Cypriuodontidro- . inhaLitants of the fresh waters of foreign lanus-the sexes sometimes cliffer much in various characters. In the male of the Mollienesia petenens£s/4 the dorsal fin is greatly developed and is marked with a row of large, ronnel, ocellated, bright-coloured spots; whilst the same fin in the female is smaller, of a different shape, and marked only with irregularly-curved brown spots. In the male the basal margin of the anal fin is also a little produced and dark-coloured. In the male of an allied form, the Xiphophorus Hellerii (fig. 29), the inferior margin of the anal fin is developed into a long filament, 12 ' Cntnlogue of Acanth. Fishes in the British Museum,' by Dr. Gunther, 1 Gl, p. Hl8-15l. Ia 'Game l3irds of Sweden,' &c., 1867, p. 4GG. 14 With rc~pect to this and the fullowino- species I am indebted to Dr. Giintht·r for information: sec also hi~ paper on tl!e Fishes of Central America, in ''I'ransnct. Zoolog. Soc.' vol. vi. 18G8, p. 485. |