. The descent of man : and selection in relation to sex. Evolution; Natural selection; Heredity; Human beings. FISHES. 333 the gemmeous dragonet "from its brilliant gem-like ; When fresh caught 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 Linnasus, and by many subsequent naturalists, as a distinct species; it is of a dingy red- dish-brown, with the dorsal fin


. The descent of man : and selection in relation to sex. Evolution; Natural selection; Heredity; Human beings. FISHES. 333 the gemmeous dragonet "from its brilliant gem-like ; When fresh caught 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 Linnasus, and by many subsequent naturalists, as a distinct species; it is of a dingy red- dish-brown, with the dorsal fin brown and the other fins Fig. 30. Xiphophorus Hellerii. Upper figure, male; female. lower figure. The sexes differ also in the proportional size of the head and mouth, and in the position of the eyes;^^ i^^i i\^q most striking dif- ference is the extraordinary elongation in the male (fig. 29) of the dorsal fin. Mr. W. Saville Kent remarks that this "singular "appendage appears from my observations of the species in con- "finement, to be subservient to the same end as the wattles, "crests, and other abnormal adjuncts of the male in gallinaceous "birds, for the purpose of fascinating their ;" The young males resemble the adult females in structure and color. Through- out the genus Callionymus," the male is generally much more brightly spotted than the female, and in several species, not only the dorsal, but the anal fin is much elongated in the males. 12 1 have drawn up this description from Tarrell's 'British Fishes,' vol. i. 1836, pp. 261 and 266. 13 'Nature,' July, 1873, p. 264. " 'Catalogue of Acanth. Fishes in the British Museum,' by Dr. Gun- ther, 1861, pp. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882. New


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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjecthumanbeings, bookyear