| THE STRUCTURE OF BLIND FISHES. |
By CARL H. EIGENMANN,
PROFESSOR OF ZOÖLOGY, INDIANA UNIVERSITY.
THE Color of the Amblyopsidæ.—The three species of Chologaster are colored, with varying intensity, from C. cornutus, which is darkest, to C. Agassizii, in which the color is faintest. The color cells are in all cases arranged in a definite pattern. These are determined by the underlying muscles. The pattern consists of three longitudinal bands on the sides, following the line where the muscle segments are angularly bent, and cross-stripes along the line separating successive segments.
The general color of Typhlichthys is cream and pink. It is abundantly pigmented. In younger specimens the pigment is arranged in more definite areas about the head. In the old it is more uniformly distributed, being, however, specially abundant about the brain. The pigment pattern of the body is precisely as in Chologaster, except that the individual pigment cells are minute and their aggregate not evident except under the lens.
The retention of the color pattern of Chologaster in Typhlichthys is not less interesting than the retention of similar habits. It is perhaps due to different causes. The color pattern in Chologaster is determined by the underlying muscular structure, and the retention of a similar pattern in Typhlichthys is due to the same underlying structure, rather than to the direct hereditary transmission of the color pattern.
Amblyopsis is flesh-colored, ranging to purple in the gill region, where the blood of the gills shows through the overlying structures, and over the liver, which can be seen through the translucent sides and ventral wall. About the head and bases of the fins the color is yellowish, resembling diluted blood. The surface of the body is slightly iridescent, and the surface of the head has a velvety, peach-bloom appearance.
The general pink color of Amblyopsis is due to the blood. It is not due to any abnormal development of blood-vessels in the dermis. In the fins, where the blood-vessels are near the surface, the general effect is a yellowish color. The surface vessels of the dermis also appear yellowish. It is only on account of the translucent condition of all the tissues, permitting the deeper vessels to show through a certain thickness, that the pink effect is produced. Amblyopsis has always been spoken of as white. The term "white aquatic ghosts" of Cope is very apt, for they do
