TASTE. XXXV 



passing into the space between which these two pupils are impervious, and 

 where they might stimulate the iris. But on removing the cornea it is seen 

 that, as already described, two lateral flaps of the iris appear like two small 

 tongues, which start one from the anterior border of the circle of the pupil, 

 and the other from its posterior border ; the two approach each other and 

 touch or even overlap, and here the one lies over the other. These tongues 

 overlapping, it follows that the circular pupil is subdivided into two openings, 

 the upper of which is the larger. It is across where the two tongues overlap 

 one another that the opaque band of skin crosses the cornea. The crystalline 

 lens is placed behind this singularly subdivided pupil, and is not perfectly 

 round, as seen in the lenses of most fishes, but a little convex projection 

 bulges out on its lower edge, which corresponds to the inferior orifice of the 

 pupil. It would seem as if this fish, possessing a sort of double eye, has to 

 keep a watch on the waters below through the lower pupil, and in the air 

 above through the upper; while the band of skin which crosses the eye 

 does so where the head of the fish is on a level with the upper edge of the 

 water. 



Doubtless the foregoing account of fishes' eyes might be largely 

 increased, and many more illustrations given did space permit, but the fore- 

 going are sufficient for the purpose of pointing out that the skin of fishes' 

 eyes may be used as a protection,- when it is scaled, coloured, or even 

 transparent. 



TASTE. 



The sense of taste in fishes is generally considered to be but slightly 

 developed, a conclusion to a great extent arrived at because most fish bolt 

 their food, and but few have molar-formed teeth capable of mastication. On ' 

 the other hand, the angler, line-fisherman, and pisciculturist perceive that 

 they will ravenously devour one kind of food, rejecting another, that they 

 have their likes and dislikes, which must have some connection with the 

 density of the object or else with its taste. 



The glosso-hyal bone does not as a rule support' a tongue or organiza- 

 tion of soft parts specially devoted to the development of the special 

 sense of taste; as, when present, it is not infrequently found to be furnished 

 with teeth, and deficient of the muscles and soft parts so conspicuous in the 

 tongues of the higher vertebrates. In the sturgeon, irrespective of papillae 

 for taste on the tongue, branches from the glosso-pharyngeal nerve have 

 been traced to the branchial arches and palate where possibly the sense 

 of taste resides. In carps on the roof of the palate is a thick, soft, vascular, 

 and highly sensitive mass, which becomes thinner anteriorly while it is 



c * 



