I have for years tried all depths of water to raise one, or to discover one, but have thus far failed. I must believe, then, that they hibernate."

Genio C. Scott, in "Fishing in American Waters," quotes an intelligent and veteran Black Bass angler of Central New York, in regard to this habit, and who furnishes the following conclusive evidence :—

:

"I have never known them [Black Bass] to be taken in winter, and I think they seek a particular location and remain torpid during winter. My attention was directed to this fact about thirty years since. At that time I was

in the habit of spearing fish in a mill-dam on the outlet of Seneca Lake, at Waterloo, Seneca County, New York. From April to November I found numbers of Bass; from December to March I found all other varieties, but no Bass.

"In the winter of 1837, the water was shut off at the lake for the purpose of deepening the channel to improve the navigation. This was considered a favorable time to quarry the limestone in the bed of the river; and upon moving the loose rock in the above-named mill-dam, where the ledges cropped out, there were found hundreds of Bass imbedded in their slime, and positively packed together in the crevices and fissures of the rocks. My subsequent experience has done much to convince me that my theory is correct."

On this point, A. N. Cheney, Esq., of Glens Falls, New York, related to me the following incidents:

"A few years ago a man, Seth Whipple, living on the Hudson River, near Glens Falls, in drawing some sunken logs from the river, during the winter, for firewood, found in the hollow of one of the logs, six Black Bass (small

mouthed), weighing from a half to two pounds; they were nearly dormant.

"The father of Pension Commissioner Bentley, who lives at Glens Falls, and has some Trout ponds on his place, to gratify a boy bought of him a Black Bass, and placed the fish in a spring. When autumn came the fish was missing, and was supposed to be stolen. During the succeeding winter the spring partly dried up, and to restore the water supply the spring was dug deeper. During the operation it was found necessary to remove an old stump in the side of the spring, when to his surprise the Bass was found underneath the stump, in a hole, evidently prepared for winter burrow."

Mr. John Eoff, of Wheeling, West Virginia, a remarkably close observer, says, in the "Report of the Smithsonian Institution," for 1854

"In the winter season they retire to deep and still water, and apparently hide under rocks, logs, etc., and remain there until the first of April."

I could multiply evidence on this point, if necessary, but these several opinions, founded upon observations made in the widely separated States of Wisconsin and Minnesota in the northwest, New York in the north, and West Virginia in the middle section of our country must suffice.

That Black Bass do not hibernate in the extreme South, is well-known; and to this circumstance, perhaps, may be attributed, in a measure, their larger growth. Still it is not unreasonable to suppose, that the Black Bass of that section have a period of repose and seclusion, analogous to hibernation, at some other season of the year, possibly during the fervid heat of the summer solstice; for it is

usual for the Bass of the North-west to cease biting and retire to the deepest water during an unusually heated term in summer.

The fact that the best season for Black Bass fishing varies in different sections-in the North being from July till October; in the West and most northerly of the Southern States in the spring and fall; and in the extreme South during the winter season-would naturally lead one to suppose that the period of dormancy in the Black Bass occurs at different seasons in different localities, and is influenced by climatic conditions, or the supply of food.

CHAPTER VII.

INTELLIGENCE AND SPECIAL SENSES.

Venator. But, master! do not trouts see us, in the night?

Piscator. Yes; and hear, and smell, too, both then and in the day-time.IZAAK WALTON.

THE brain of fishes differs so materially in size, conformation, substance and analogy from that of other animals, that it has been the rule of specialists to attribute to this class of vertebrates a very low order of intelligence. In opposition to this theory, however, Dr. F. Day recently read a paper before the Linnæan Society of London, England, in which he endeavored to show that fishes possessed a far higher order of intelligence than is usually accorded them.

He claimed that the experience of himself and others indicated that they possessed emotions and affections, and in support of that view he showed that they constructed nests, transported and defended their eggs, protected their young, manifested their affections for each other, recognized human beings, could be tamed, exhibited the emotions of fear, anger, and revenge, uttered sounds, hid from danger, sought protection by attaching themselves to the bodies of other animals, and had peculiar modes of defense; that they left the water in search of food, and that they sometimes combined for attack and defense.

Every observant angler and naturalist has, in his own

experience, proved the truth of many of the above assertions, and, no doubt, some have observed traits of intelligence still more convincing.

The wonderful faculty of anadromous fishes, seeking out and ascending their native streams during the breeding season, even after being purposely carried hundreds of miles away, has commanded the admiration of biologists, yet they can see nothing in the small and jelly-like brain of the fish to account for the marvelous habit, but instinct; on the same principle, perhaps, that Coleridge accounts for the blindness of Love:

"His eyes are in his mind."

SENSE OF SIGHT.

We are led to believe, from the investigations of anatomists, that the organs of special sense in fishes are very imperfectly developed; but while this may be true, in the main, as regards the special senses of touch and taste, I am constrained to believe, from the observations of myself and many others, that fishes, in general, have the senses of sight, hearing, and smell developed in a much greater degree than is generally supposed.

The diversities in form and position of the eyes of different fishes, prove that they are of the greatest use to them, in procuring food, and in escaping from their enemies; and are placed "where they will do the most good."

In the majority of fishes, which are constantly moving about, and frequent alike the surface and bottom of streams, the eyes are placed in the usual position of most other