Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-06-27

of green lanterns. The rams which draw
| the car of the goddess Fricka are real anil
mails, in strong contrast to the ridiculous
| cardboard sheep which proved q complets
failure at Brussels. To come to the grand
| spectacular effect of the whole performance
the Ride Of the Valkyriss, which at other
opera houses has been obtained by trans
parencies and magic lantern sffects-It IA
done here by real fgursntes, who cross the
stage on mechanical horses running on In
olineg-iu fact, upon a sort Of a switchbsck
railway. Numerous cloudy wells are sus-
pended between the audience and the par
formers, 80 that the "woodennessn of the
steeds is not discernible. The platform on
which the horses run is strongly built
structure tHenty-seven feet high. In the
great fire scene, the sffeot.of which Is far
grsnder than that with which Sigurd has
made MS familiar, tresses of cotton wool
which burn at intervals, produce an excel
lent imitation of will. o,the- wisps, while
the smoke Is initiated by steam according
to the system invented by Wagner himself.
Animal Patterns.
TFrom the London SPECTATOR
Early In the present spring the Marquis
Of Hamilton brought with him from Trim
idad Q number of little hsh, less In sIEe
presented to the Geological society, and
were to be seen at Easter, to the number
Of q dozen or more, swimming In q glass
bowl among a thin growth of wster-weeds,
In the warm chamber In which the moths
and butterflies are matched. Being small
and elegant, they have q long and ugly
scientific name, the Girardinus Guppyi. |
In the absence of a label the writer mis- |
took them for the gudgeon which form the |
food of the more rspsoious fishes, and was |
about to suggest that they would be inter |
esting material for an experiment with the |
electric eels, when ray of sunlight fash |
ing through the bowl revealed the sstound- |
ing fact that these tiny fishes possessed /
beauties of ornament not surpassed In l
kind by the most exquisite birds of the /
tropics.
Each of the little creatures, though so
frail and so delicately formed that Its body /
offered scarcely greater obstacle to the
passsge of the sunlight than the water In i
which it swan, was decorated on either /
side by one, or sometimes by two, of those /
exquisite ornaments, seen in the greatest /
perfection on the train of the peacock, /
which are perhaps best described as the 4
"peacock-eye." 1t was NO mere spot lying /
in a ring of a different color such as deco- /
rates the sides of q trout or salmon, but a /
perfectly developed pescock-e gem, lying In /
its gorgeous rings of blue, green and gold,
equally rich and dark In tint, and even Il
more striking from its contrast with the
colorless and semi body of the
creature is adorned. The analogy with /
the pattern on the pescock's tail was even
more complete than that which q first Il
glance dieclosed; for on many Of the fsh Il
third or rudimentsry eye sppesrsd, 4
fainter aud elongated, like q snudge of
wet color, and corresponding exactly with Il
the graduation or evolutionary process Of Il
ornament which Charles Darwin noted In
the side-feathsrs of the pescock-trsin.
This wonderful decoration, which WAS as
sumed, like the brilliant red and emerald
OF the English stickle-bscks, for the period
of courtship only, has now disappeared;
and the creatures abide In plain clothes till
next spring. But the character of the or
nament they wear suggests q further and
separate interest bsyond that which their
beauty naturally claims.
Pattern, by which We mean the repeti-
ton of certain and regular forms, so as to
produce an ornament which plessea the
eye without making any demands on the
mind, Is by no means the eommonest form |
of natural decoration in tie higher ami
e. Il
the plumage of the birds of paradise, sad
of the parrots and lorys, ara the common
and beautiful sdornments of birds. ANY
visitor to the cases Of a good natural his
tory collection will find a hundred in
stances of this form of dec 1rstion for one II
of true pattern. Even fhe wings of but
terfies, though spsngled with color In
dots, lines and spots, are usually devoid of
pattern, though the juxtsposition of
,tar nf ttsa Il
ly produce the effect of pattern. Bat that
effect, 80 far as 1. Is given In a siugl. ipdi-
vidual, is, as q rule, only due to tie fact
that the creature ia itself symmetrical, snd
that the lines aod markings ca one side of |
the body are repeated upon the other.
The stripes upon a tigers skin, for in
stance, though In the nature of ornament,
are not pstteTn, though q bumbsr Of II.
gere' skins laid side by side might produce
to the eye the effect Of pattern. The pat
terms themselves are also few in number;
and these limited and fAvorits forms Of |
enrichment are applied indiscriminstely, |
and with certain Indifference to congrui-
ty of species, yet with unfailing success In
the result, to the most widely different
forms In the animal creation.
Take, for example, the most complex,
and perhaps the most beautiful of all, |
natural ornament which appears in the Il
"eyes" in the psacoek's tail The same /
pattern, with slight variations, Is found, /
not only on the feathers of the beautiful II
grouse-liks Polypiectron Of Mslscos,
though modified, as Darwin noted, by the
white edg!ng, which makes It even more
conspicuous than the bronzs circle round Il
the psscock eye, but also ia the peacock Il
pheasant, and the 'Oceiated Turkey" of
Honduras. In this splendid bird the
"eyes" are placed in a row at the end of
the tail feathers. and upon some Of the
upper tail ooverts, and are trimmed with
gold. The same pattern, by q leap from
an order of birds not 6istsntly connected, |
appears in undiminished beauty In the lit
tie fish from Trinidad; and with an almost /
incredible difference of subject and same /
mesa in effect, In the peacock butterfly and Il
eyed hawk moth of England, in the empe- |
ror moth, the largest of the European spe-
cles, and a number of allied insects; and
lastly, with a startling resemblance, in the
center of the beautiful peacock iris, which |
ia now cultivated in English gardens. 1t
would, perhaps, not be difficult to add to
the instsnces of repetition of this psrticu-
lar pattern which we have given, by q
careful survey of the specimens exhibited
In the Natural History museum at South
Kensipgton. But the fact of its spplics-
tion in the case of birds, fishes, moths, |
butterflies, and lastly of q c-mmon and |
beautiful flower, will sufficiently illustrate |
the fact TO which We draw attention.
Good Words for the Donkey.