Additional Evidence on the Influence of Light in producing Pigments on the Lower Sides of Flat Fishes

Abstract

In a communication to the Royal Society (Phil. Trans. vol. clxxxiv. 1894, and in this Journal, vol. ii. no. 1), I described a series of experiments in which light was directed upon the lower sides of flat fishes, by means of a tank with a glass bottom, and a mirror placed beneath it. I have now to record an observation which confirms my previous results in a most striking manner. Curiously enough, the effect I am about to describe, in some respects even more important as evidence than those obtained in my experiments, was observed accidentally, or at least incidentally, and was due to conditions which had been quite unintentionally produced.