Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-07-08
COLOR in ANIMALS.
Some of the Curiosities of Natures Work,
From Chambers Journal


now beginning to be studied scientific
ally. It is vain to say that an animal
is beautiful, either in symmetry or di-
versity of color, in order to please the
human eye. Fishes in the depths of
the Indian seas, where no human eye
can see them, possess the most gorgeous
tints. One thing is remarkable birds,
fishes, and insects alone possess the
metallic coloring; while plants and 70
ophytes are without rejecting shades.
The mollusca take middle path, with
their hue of mother-of- pearl. What is
the reason of these arrangements in
the animal kingdom? It is question
which cannot be satisfactorily answered;
but some observations have been made
which throw light on the subject. One
is, that among animals the part Of the
body turned toward the earth is always
paler than that which is uppermost,
The action Of light is here apparent
Fishes which live on the side, as the
sole and turbot, have the left side, which
answers to the back, of a dark tint
while the other side is white. It may
be noticed that birds which fly, as It
were, bathed in light do not offer the
strong contrast of tone between the up
per and lower side. Beetles, wasps,
and flies have the metallic coloring of
blue and green, and possess rings equally
dark all round the body; and the wings
of many butterflies are as beautifully
feathered below as above.
On the other hand, mollusca which
live in an almost closed shell, like the
oyster, are nearly colorless the Larvae
OF insects found IN the ground or in
wood have the same whiteness. as well
as all intestinal worms shut up in OBJ
security. Some insects whose lives are
spent in darkness keep this appearance
all their lives such as the curious lit
tie beetle inhabiting the inaccessible
crevasses of snowy mountains, in whose
depths they are hidden. They seem to
fly from light as from death, and are
only found at certain seasons, when
they crawl on the flooring of the caves
like Larvae, without eyes, which would
be useless in the retreat in which they
usually dwell.
This relation between coloring and light
is very evident in the beings which in
habit the earth and air those are the
most brilliant which are exposed to the
sun those of the tropics are brighter
than those in the region around the
North Pole, and the diurnal species
than the nocturnal but the same law
does not apparently belong to the in
habitants of the sea, which are of
richer shade where the light is more
tempered. The most dazzling corals
are those which hang under the natural
cornices of the rocks and on the sides
of submarine grottos while some kinds
of fish which are found on the shores
an well as in depths requiring the drag
net have bright red-purple IN the lat
ter regions, and an insignificant yellow
brown in the former. Those who bring
up goldfshes know we'll that to have
them finely colored, they must place
them in shaded vase, where aquatic
plants hide them from the extreme So
lar heat Under a hot July sun they
lose their beauty.
The causes to which animal coloring
is due are very various. Some living
substances have it in themselves, owing
to molecular arrangements, but usually
this is not the case the Gveliest colors
are not found up with the tissues.
Sometimes they arise from phenom-
ena like that by which the soap-bubble
shows it's prismatic hues sometimes
there is special matter called pig
ment, which is united with the organic
substances. Such is the brilliant paint,
carmine, which is the pigment of the
cochineal insect, and the red color of
blood, which may be collected in crys-
tails, separate from the other particles
to which it is united.
Even the powder not unknown to
ladies of fashion is one of natures beau
tifying means. That which is left on
the hands Of the ruthless boy when he
has caught butterfly, is a common
instance; but there are birds, such as
the large white cockatoo, which leave
d white powder on hehands. An Afri-
can traveller speaks of his establishment
on rainy day to see his hands red
dened by the moist plumageof bird he
had just killed. The most ordinary
way, however, in which the pigment is
found is when it exists in the depths OF
thetissues, reduced TO very fine particles,
best seen under the microscope. When
scattered they scarcely influence the
shade but when close together, they
are very perceptible. This explains
the color of the negro under the very
delicate layer of skin which is raised
by slight burn there may be seen
abundance of brown pigment in the
black man. It is quite superficial, for
the skin differs only from that Of the
European in tone it wants the exquis-
tie transparency of fair races. Among
these the colors which impress the eye
do not come from a fat surface, but
from the different depths or layers in
the flesh. Hence the variety Of rose
and lily tints according as the blood
circulates more Or less freely hence
the blue veins, which give false ap-
pearance, because the blood is red; but
the skin thus dyes the deep tones which
lie beneath it; tatooing with Indian ink
is blue; blue eyes owe their shade to the
brown pigment which lines the other
side of the iris, and the muscles seen
under the skin produce the blush tone
well known to painters.