File:Zoological Society bulletin (1913) (14740342686).jpg

Identifier: zoologicalsociet55601newy (find matches)
Title: Zoological Society bulletin
Year: 1901 (1900s)
Authors: New York Zoological Society
Subjects: Zoology
Publisher: (New York) : New York Zoological Society
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
titude of the human mindtoward that which it holds to be praiseworthyin nature, it is not strange that much has beenwritten concerning the finecolors, the grace of motionor the symmetry of form ofmany or even of most fishes,since most fishes do possessout- or all of these qualitiesto some noticeable degree.Now while there can not bethe slightest objection tolauding the beautiful. 1maintain that the few fisheswhich do happen to be lack-ing in this respect shouldnot go unmentioned on thataccount. lor while sym- metry, grace and pleasing colors undoubtedlymay make a fish attractive, yet even in the ab-sence of these qualities it is possible for a fish tobe attractive by reason of positive ugliness. Isay positive ugliness, for ugliness such as ispossessed by the fishes mentioned in this articleis not to be classed with mere absence of beauty.Like the ugly man in the story, these fishes areprofessionals and have a deep-seated, in-growing ugliness that gives them a fascinationall their own.
Text Appearing After Image:
H > *.-.• COMMON ILKKKK 962 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. Of course there are all degrees of fishy ugli-ness, and the fascination for the beholder whichsome un-beautiful fishes possess, comes oftenfrom some un-fish-like quality rather than frompure ugliness. Take as an example the biggreen moray. It is hardly a beautiful fish, atleast to the eyes of the layman, but people willcrowd around the moray tank to enjoy the sen-sation of a good spine-thrilling shudder, and notbecause the moray is ugly, but because, for-sooth, he looks somewhat like a snake! Or,take the seahorse. While I would not for amoment suggest that the seahorse, adopted asthe ensign of the Aquarium, is ugly, still hepossesses as little beauty, as that term is under-stood among fishes, as one could desire. Heis a most interesting and attractive little crea-ture—because of features that are not fish-like.The only things about him that seem to showa relation to ordinary fishes are his fins, andthey usually vibrate so

Note About Images