he observes, "has been seen to approach and afterwards turn away from a stale gudgeon, when at the distance of a foot from his nose, as if perfectly aware, at that distance, of the real condition of the intended prey." It is, at the same time, as clear as water, that if he did not smell the gudgeon, he at least saw it; and there may be just as much difference in a pike's eye between a fresh fish and one long kept, as in the eye of man between a young woman and an old one-neither act of discrimination in any way depending on the sense of smell. Mr. Couch, an excellent and well-known ichthyological observer, is said to have perceived in a large fifteen-spined stickle-back, which he kept in a glass vessel, that the opening and closing of the nostrils were simultaneous with the action of the gill-covers, and he felt convinced from his observations, that the fluid was received and rejected for the purpose of sensation.

SECTION X.

Organs of Taste in Fishes.

IN regard to the sense of taste, so essential to the happiness both of man and beast, it is obvious that as fishes, with few exceptions, swallow their food rapidly and with little mastication, their perception of that faculty must be by no means either acute or deliberate. The same inference may be

drawn from the fact of their tongue being almost immoveable, often entirely osseous, not seldom beset with teeth or dental plates, and receiving very slender nerves, and these but few in number. Even those species, of which the jaws are so armed as to enable them to cut and bruise their aliments, cannot long retain the latter in their mouths, on account of the position and peculiar play of the respiratory organs. No salivary glands discharge their moisture on the organs of taste. The tongue itself is actually wanting in many species; and even when it exists in its most distinct and apparently fleshy state, it consists merely of a ligamentous or cellular substance, applied on front of the lingual bone, and is never furnished with muscles capable of producing any movement of extension or retraction, as in quadrupeds. We have, however, frequently seen fishes seize on stale worms and other unsavoury morsels, and almost instantaneously thereafter spout them from their mouths with violence to the distance of many inches,thereby, we think, exhibiting some sharpness in the sense of taste, and no small bluntness in that of smell.

SECTION. XI.

Organs of Touch in Fishes.

NEITHER can fishes be said to be highly favoured in respect to those organs on which the accurate perception of the sense of touch depends. The fa

culty is no doubt greatly deadened over the general surface, by the coating of scales, and in the more special members, by the inflexibility of the rays. It is chiefly confined to the lips, and even those parts in many species are themselves as hard and insensible as bone. Certain soft and delicate appendages, called barbles, possessed by many species, such as the cod and loach, are supposed to enjoy a more delicate perception of the sense of touch. The gurnards are provided with delicate detached rays at the root of the pectoral fins, which may be compared to fingers-probably serving a somewhat similar purpose, and making amends for their bony lips. Mr. Yarrell regards it as a rule without exception, that all fishes furnished with barbles or cirri about the mouth, obtain their food near the ground; and there seems indeed to be a beautiful accordance between the functions of these feelers, as they have been called, and that deficiency of light which must ever prevail beneath a heaving mass of "waters dark and deep." The scales of fishes, which thus at once protect and deaden their feelings, are in the majority imbricated, that is, placed partially over each other, after the manner of slates or tiles. They are, however, neither equally distributed, nor of the same form or consistence over the general surface of the body. The head is frequently destitute of scales, and those which form what is called the lateral line of the body, are distinguished from the others by one or more small tubular perforations. All these scales are attached to the skin by their anterior edge, and

it is also by means of the dermis that the peculiar matter, so remarkable for its silvery metallic lustre, and which bestows such brilliancy on many fishes, is secreted beneath the scales. It is this substance that is used in the formation of artificial pearls.

SECTION XII.

Things to be inferred from the preceding premises.

We think it results from the foregoing slight details (into which we cannot here enter more minutely), that the external senses of fishes convey to them less lively and distinct impressions than do those of other vertebrated beings. By whatever scenes in nature they are surrounded, their perceptions, beyond a narrow range, are indistinct and dull. Their sexual emotions, cold as their blood, indicate only individual wants. They bear little or no attachment to each other, and even when assembled together in multitudinous millions (as subjects of the herring board,—T. D. L., Sec.), they exhibit only a congregated mass of selfish single fishes, each striving to push his own particular fortune along the wooded shores of deep Loch Fyne (or other rich marine pasture), without even crying "God bless the Duke," as all are now alike in duty and affection bound. Few species pair or enjoy any connubial gratification, and neither sex seems to recognise its offspring. Lest, however, we should

G

be thought to malign the morals of the objects of our favourite sport, we shall notice a few exceptions to what we undoubtedly regard as the general rule, although we have devoted but little of our leisure to what a French clergyman, a friend of ours, was wont to call "the loaves of fishes."

Mr. Yarrell is of opinion that considerable attachment is frequently exhibited between the parents. Mr. Jesse records that he once caught female pike during the spawning season, and that nothing could drive the male away from the spot at which she had disappeared. He (the pike, not Mr. Jesse) even followed her to the very edge of the water," with long reluctant amorous delay." In other cases, this attachment is said not to be confined to the season of spawning; for a person who had kept two small fishes together in a glass vessel, having given one of them away, the other refused to eat, and showed obvious symptoms of an unhappy anxiety till his companion was restored. This, however, we would remark, was an experiment under constrained or artificial circumstances, and is therefore scarcely conclusive, although it shows that the germ of some affection may exist in fishes. Solitude, or almost total seclusion from one's kind, produces indeed a very dissimilar effect in different constitutions. It is asserted that a sentimental sailor actually fell in love with an old maid through his prison bars; while, on the other hand, it is known that keepers of light-houses almost always hate each other. However this may be, some few fishes exhibit an attachment to their