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Show lG SEXVAL SELECTION. PART H. "female, who appearcrl to treat all. her _lovers with " the same kindness." N otwithstandmg. t]us last .state-t I Cn 1, 110t from the several Tlrevious con. Idem-men , •• • ' · 1 tions, give up the belief that the males .'~111~·1. ar~ the most attractive to the females, from then bngbter colours or other ornaments, are commonly preferred by them ; ancl that the males have thus been rendered more beautiful in the course of ages. vVe have next to inquire whether this view can be extended, through the law of the equal transmi .sion of characters to both sexes, to those groups in w1nch the males and females are brilliant in the same or nearly tlte same dcoTee and manner. In such a genus as Labrus, whi~h includes some of the most splendid fishes in th world, for instance, the Peacock Labrus ( L. pavo ), clescrib d,25 with pardonable exagg~ration, .as formed. of polished seal s of gold encrustmg 1aplsla~ uli, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and amethysts, we may, with much probauility, accept this belief.; fo1: we have seen that the sexes in at least one speCies d1ffer gt·eatly in colour. With some fisheEI, as with man! of the lowest animals, splendid colours may be the direct result of the nature of their tissues and of the snrroundi no- conditions, without any aiel from selection. 1'he ~~ld-fish (Oyp1·inus aurcdtts), judging from the analogy of the golden variety of the common carp, is, perhaps, a, case in point, as it may owe its splendid colours to a single abrupt variation, clue to the conditions to which this fish bas been subjected under confinement. It is, how(tver, more probal>le that these colours have l>een intensified through artificial selection, as this species has been carefully bred in China from a remote 25 Bory de Suint Vinc:nt, in' Diet. Class. d'Ilist. Nnt.' tom. ix. 182G, p. 151. C<JAJ>. xu. FISHES. periocJ.2° Under natural conditions it does not seem prouable that beings so highly organised as. fi ::;hcs, ancl which live under such complex relations, should become brilliantly coloured without suffcrino- some evil or re- . . 0 cernng some benefit from so great a. change, and conse-quently without the intervention of natural scledion. ·what, then, must we conclude in regard to the many fishes, both sexes of which a.re splendidly colomcd? 1\Ir. \Vnllaec 27 believes that the species which frequent reefs, where corals and other brightly-colonred organisms a?ound., ar~ bright~y coloured in order to escape detcctwn by thmr enemies; but according to my recollection t.hey were thus rendered highly conspicuous. In tho fresh-waters of the Tropics there are no l>rilliantlycoloured corals or other orga.nisms for tho fishes to rescmulc; yet many species in the Amazons are beauti. fully. colou~·ed, and ruany of the carnivorous Cypri~ ud.ro m .Imlm are ?rnamcntecl with "bright lougitu- . dm~l.Imes of varwus tints." 28 Mr. l\i'Clellaud, in ~:escnbmg _these .fi~hes goes so. far as to suppo e that the peculiar bnll1ancy of their colours" serves as " n "better mark for king-fishers, terns, and other uirds " which arc destined to keep the number of these fishes "in check;" but at the preseut day few naturalists will , ~n . O~ving to so1~1e remarks on this sul~ect, mo.do in my work • On tho ' , a:·1~tlo~1 of Anuno.ls tm~or Domcslicution,' Mr. )V. F. Mo.yol's ( C~unoso ~otcs anu Quencs,' Aug. 18U8, p. 123) has scnrc·hed tho nncwnt. ClliUOi:iO encyclopedias. llc finds that gold·iish wore fir~l rcarotl. m confinement during the Sung Dynasty, which commenced -:·r:· GU?. In t~o year 1129 these fi::;hes abounded. In another plnco Jt JS srucl tha~ smco tho year 1:i48 thoro llns been "produced at Ilmw;; ?how.o. vanoty cal~ed tho fire -fish, ti·om its intens(·ly rod colour. It "ts u~uvcr::;al~y o..dmucd, nn~ thoro is not a housoboltl whol'o it is not cul~tvatod, m 1'tvalry as to 'Its colour, anu n!:l a source of 1uofit." ~ "W cs~miuster .n.cviow,' July, 18U7, p. 7. - . Iudmn .?Yl>rnnclro," by l\Ir. J. l\1'Clollanc1, 'As:o.tic Rc"earchcs' val. :xtx. part u. 1839, p. 230. ' YOL. II. c |